The Girl Who Changed Her Fate
by eeveemon123
Summary: School girl Alivia had just caught a break and was allowed to go home early. As she and her friend were on their way back, they manage to lose each other, and it isn't long before she realises that she is now involved in something that shouldn't have happened. This story is a prequel to The Challenges Ahead, involving the first transformation that Mew had mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**** Whether you were wanting me to do it or not, I've done it. This is the first chapter of the follow up to The Challenges Ahead. However, it is not a sequel as such, more of a prequel, involving the girl who was killed by Mew in Mew's flashback. First chapter is mainly and introduction, hope you guys like it, enjoy. I don't own Pokemon. (It is set fourteen years before TCA)**

**The Girl Who Changed Her Fate**

**Chapter 1**

It was just a normal day at high school; the sun was shining brightly on seventh day of March. The clouds scattered across the sky gave the school ground's appearance the effect of a late afternoon even though it was only lunch time. On the school field, the teenagers kept to their separate groups; the nerds, the popular kids and the lonely outcasts. However, inside one of the school buildings there were those few who were in a class, choosing to revise no matter what social group they were in. One student in there was Alivia; she was currently with her math teacher, revising calculus, and the trapezium rule. "So, wait…..I…No, I don't understand sir." She scratched her head in frustration and confusion. Her emerald eyes stared down at her textbook as she struggled to find her way around way the question. Her pen stayed on the same spot it had been for the last minute as she was trying to work through the question. Her teacher stood up and chuckled.

"You can use a calculator you know?" she nodded in response, coming out with another mutter relating to the question in front of her. "Alivia, you could also go outside for lunch. You're more than capable of answering these questions. I think you've just been cooped up in a classroom for too long. Go get some fresh air." He sighed and looked at her. "We've got the entire next double lesson to learn it." Alivia nodded and stood up, packing up her bag, although her face was clearly full of frustration, she forced a smile to her teacher as she walked out the door. "Alivia." She stopped "I mean it, you have no need to worry about the exam; you're one of the most capable students in the class." She smiled and then walked out of the room.

Almost as soon as she got out of the building, her friends were waiting there for her, springing to life as soon as they saw her. "Hey Ally" her friend, Frankie called. All the girls crowded around Alivia and walked along the courtyard in their group. The courtyard itself was no smaller than a full tennis court and was layered with grey concrete pavement, and a clay red brick line leading into the school's entrance; certain parts of the courtyard had small tree growing out of them, being held up by the plastic tubes to influence which way they would grow. The courtyard was a lifeless place in the summer because everyone would be on the field, and on days like this, it was much the same. "Hey, Ally, why'd you go to maths revision? We waited like…twenty minutes for you to come out. We wanted to know what you thought about you hosting the next house party?" Frankie gave her best innocent smile, hiding exactly what happened at one of them.

Alivia shrugged and gave a frown to her friends, and they immediately returned it. "Well.." she said before smirking "I guess I'll have to get my parents a ticket out to see a show or something cos we're gonna party hard." All the girls were giggling and exchanging smiles. They carried on walking until they had reached the field, moving over to a bench and they all sat on it, Alivia sitting on top of the bench in the middle. "Hey, Jackie, are you still dating Tom?" Alivia raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly. The blonde haired girl turned to Alivia and shook her head, making Alivia smile "Good, he was not treating you right. What kind of guy chooses to practice football on Valentine's Day?" just at that, an equally large group of boys came walking over the bench, being headed by one of the guys, he was taller than most of them and certainly leaner in appearance. His short brown hair was turning slightly blonde in the sun and he had face that had been slightly roughed by all his years of playing football.

"Hello girls." He smiled.

Alivia sighed and smiled "Hey Tristan." She bit her lip, her long auburn hair flicked to the side, her fringe staying just above her eyes as she smiled at him. She got off the bench and the two embraced with a hug "When were you gonna tell me that you worked at the new Pokèmart?" she smirked at the boy and chuckled, standing next to him with her toned body, looking up at him only a little because of their height difference.

Tristan laughed and playfully grabbed her and held her still "I was gonna tell you once I had quit. I know how much you will make fun of me for it." He let her go and they hugged again, both of them smiling "Seriously though Ally, don't poke fun at me. At least I have a job."

"You and me both, Tristan." She rolled her eyes "I got a job as a waitress at the local bar because they serve food there." They both looked back to their friends who were all talking with each other.

He smiled and pulled her closer "Hey, Ally, want me to bring Drae out?" she nodded and stood back as he released his pokemon from the pokeball. Before her stood and Ampharos, although this one was a little bit taller than normal and the ball on the end of its tail was blue, not red. The Ampharos bleated in greeting to them and Alivia hugged it as if the two had been lifelong friends.

"Geez Tristan, when the heck did Drae evolve?" he gave a simple show of two fingers "Two days ago…" he nodded and she smiled back at the Ampharos "He's certainly stronger than when he was that fluffy little Mareep." She giggled as the Ampharos glared down in embarrassment.

Tristan smirked "Yeah, but that fluffy Mareep did enough to make you look as shocked as a Jolteon's fur." She rolled her eyes at him again and shoved him as best she could, although it did barely anything. The groups rejoined and they all talked about whatever was current until the bell went for the end of lunch. The girls all hugged each other before leaving, waving goodbye to the boys.

When it came round to her maths lesson again, Alivia was once again struggling to find the solution to the problem. "Sir….Is this right?" he walked over to her and looked down at the work she had done. One simple gesture brought a smile to both of their faces, a thumbs up gesture was all it took for her to feel relieved and that maybe her exam would go right. However, before she could stay relieved for too long she noticed a certain someone looking in through the window "Titch?" she frowned. The teacher looked in the same direction and took off his glasses.

"Is that yours, Alivia?" she nodded and then all the class looked to her, almost in disgust from some, but the others just looked briefly before continuing to work. The Pichu in question was hanging by a branch and grinning as he waved at her. Alivia couldn't help but try to hide her smile as the small rodent waved excitedly, and even the teacher smiled. "Tell you what. You've worked pretty hard the whole day. You've got all the work done and more. Go on, you can go home early on my permission. Enjoy it." He smiled and opened the door for her.

Once Alivia was out, she went to the back of her classroom and saw the Pichu waiting there with the smile on his face gone "Hey Titch." She smiled and scratched his ears gently. Immediately the rodent pokemon jumped back and onto his place on her shoulder. "I know you got me out of the lesson, but you can't just run to my school." His ears lowered as he looked back at her with a sad face. She pouted to him and scratched his chin to calm him down "Come on you. Let's go home….Mum and Dad will be a little surprised." She shrugged and walked out of the school grounds.

After a few minutes walking, Alivia had made it to a crossing and she walked across into the pathway that cut right through the field. Titch jumped off and scampered ahead as they had their daily race with each other. However, this time, in the crops that were being grown on the field, it made it impossible to see where Titch had gone. The wheat crops that sprouted from the ground were tall enough to make the pace become a maze if there wasn't a path to follow.

She swore under her breath as the path disappeared from her sight when she looked down. "Great…..Titch you owe me." She sighed and trudged through the crops. For a moment she thought she had found him, but it turned out to be an oddly shaped and coloured grain. She flopped down on the bed of wheat and looked up to the sun, putting her sunglasses over her eyes and staying there until Titch came back.

She sat up straight as soon as she heard a low pitched growl coming from behind her and turned round. She reeled back when she saw a not so happy Ninetales glaring down at her, its tails were flicking violently as its crimson eyes stayed fixed upon her. "Whoa there; easy." She held her hands up to the pokemon and looked away. The fox pokemon got closer, still growling, the noise getting louder as it got closer.

As soon as it started, the noise stopped and she saw the Ninetales bound away. Alivia just sat there speechless, utterly terrified and to a certain extent curious. Shakily, she stood up and grabbed her bag, now searching for a way out again. "Piiii!" she heard and before she could react Titch had slammed into her face, latching on by her nose. He squirmed and crawled atop of her head.

"What's wrong Titch?" she looked up only to find that he had dashed away again, but before she could call out for him again she saw another two Ninetales approach her. Such rare pokemon were here, and she didn't know why. The two tried to walk around her, but she quickly figured out why and stepped in their way. "I can't let you have him." She called, although she was visibly shaking before the two vulpines "He's my friend, and you're not gonna get past me." She nearly fainted at how stupid she sounded, but even as they tried to get around her, she stepped back and blocked their way again. Soon they were getting frustrated and blast a small spurt of flames into the air as a warning.

She shook her head and stood her ground "No." was all she said. The standoff lasted for at least ten minutes and by that time she knew that Titch would have been able to get close enough to home by now. She dropped her guard and fell to her knees. However, the Ninetales did not walk past her like she expected, instead they closed in around her. "Hey, wait. What are you doing?" she raised an eyebrow, getting uncomfortable with this whole scenario.

The two Vulpine had paralysed her because of how nervous she was. They took this as their opportunity to seize whatever she had in her bag, although what they found at first wasn't of much use to them, a pencil case, and maths and chemistry books. They did eventually find her lunch box, trying to open it with their lack of opposable thumbs. One of them went to carry the bag away as his possession, but in an act of blind reaction, Alivia dived forwards to grab for her bag.

Her hand scraped at the bag's surface, but she couldn't hold her leverage well enough to stay up and get a grip on it. Instead, her hand smacked down onto the ground with a soft thud. However, the ground was slightly covered in a creamy yellow bristle of fur. She paled in the face as she was met with the angry glare of the Ninetales'.

Once again both the Ninetales circled her, both flicking their tails slowly, keeping their gaze fixed on her, making sure she didn't try to get away. Alivia watched as the Ninetales approached her, this was the one whose tail she had touched, and she knew of the alleged curses that were put upon such offenders. "Please. Don't hurt me." She whimpered, her voice croaking as she fought back the tears.

To her surprise the Ninetales stopped growling and licked her cheek. She did a double take and saw that she was fine; no cuts or bruises, no mental damage. She had come out of this unscathed. The other Ninetales joined in now and licked her other cheek.

Whilst she was being distracted by this, the two vulpine subtly wrapped their tails around her, and before she knew it, Alivia was on her back trying to push away the canines. The tails from the 'offended' Ninetales quickly flashed a bright light that could have only have been detected if you were to watch closely.

They nodded to each other and stopped, just keeping their hold on her. 'Human.' The voice of the Ninetales echoed in her mind and she stopped her face dropping with terror. 'You are aware that by the law of our kind. You are to have a curse placed upon you as a result of touching our sacred tails. We have been granted permission by Arceus himself to search your soul and find your punishment.' Their eyes glowed briefly, turning back to their crimson shade almost immediately. 'We have two possible options for you. We can change your form to that of which has been deemed suitable. Or there is the option that we kill you in order to protect ourselves which by the name of Arceus we are allowed to do.'

Alivia gulped and thought for a second "Do I get a choice?" they shook their heads at her, making her heart sink. After a few tense minutes, they had made their choice 'We have decided that because you did not offend because you were malicious, and because you were stupid.' She felt a little bit of anger at their bluntness. 'We have decided that we will change your form. Only fate will decide what that might be, although we can influence it slightly. Tell us about yourself human.' They sat down on their haunches. "Well, my name is Alivia Pontielli." She began.

At the same time, some changes were already taking place and she could see them happening, she could feel them happening. "I go to a high school about one and a half miles from here." She started to stammer as she got worried with the further changes and she could feel the subtle changes being made to her voice, although what the changes were was completely beyond her. "I have a group of friends, and my best friend Frankie. She's n…n…no I can't please tell me what's going on." Suddenly her changes completely reversed and she was back to normal. The ninetales frowned 'Girl, you have just changed whatever was in store for you. This time stay quiet!' the voice demanded.

Immediately she felt a sharp pain shoot through her spine. This was doubled to the point that she had got pins and needles in every part of her body. She lay back on the floor in agony as the ninetales watched on, and even they were starting to seem a little concerned at her changes. She screamed as she felt her head reshape, the skull cracking as it changed to fit her new body, which was also in the process of changing. She cried out as her spine seemed to grow and then split some.

After some time they looked down upon her and shook their heads in disbelief "Well, this was not what I expected." One of them said.

"No. It really wasn't, but you know what that means don't you?" they both nodded to each other.

Alivia woke, feeling significantly warmer, although far more groggy than before "W-what happened?" she looked up to see the two ninetales smiling down at her "Okay. What have I taken?" she joked with herself, hoping it was a dream.

"Alivia if you look at yourself. You will see the changes that you had influenced by changing your own fate." She looked down and around at herself, shrieking hopelessly at her new form.

She stood up shakily and looked back at her rear, spotting three tails sprouting from her spine. "I'm a…..a Vulpix!?" her attention shot to the two ninetales before her "how the heck!? Change me back, please. I had a whole life to get on with."

"We will not change you back. You have to endure the curse put upon you. It is law. You shouldn't however, be too disheartened by your new appearance because it is also law for our clan to accept any member of our species. We wouldn't be so cruel as to leave you by yourself, now come with us." One of them said to her in a rather blunt tone.

She shook her head "No, but you'd be cruel enough to change the species of a girl who didn't even intentionally grab your tail. If you hadn't been trying to…." She stopped as she realised that she was speaking in plain English to a pokemon. If she could have heard herself from the human perspective she would have only heard her new species name uttered in different syllable variations.

The ninetales stopped and growled directly at her "Would you rather have died? No, so quit moaning and just come with us." He sighed, sounding a little bit irritated. They began to walk "Come with us if you want a place to stay, with your own kind." She felt a pang at her heart with that comment, but silently followed behind, her steps a little more awkward than theirs.

**A/N:**** Well there you guys go. There it is the first chapter for all of you. I hope this one will be as successful as my first story; I will get the next chapter out during my easter holidays. I may even get two done. Please review; it is what helps me get better. If I know what there is to improve then I will try my best to improve. If there was just something you like then great, I'd love to know what it was so that I could style my writing a little more like that specific part. Thank you. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**** Hey everyone, I'm back and I bring you a new chapter. I hope you guys like it. Please review because it is nice to see what you guys think. I do not own Pokemon, but I own the characters in this story.**

**Chapter 2**

Alivia trudged behind the two Ninetales, her head was hanging low and she had been sighing the entire time. Occasionally she stumbled and fell, but her guides didn't stop for her; they just urged her to keep up. After a few more hours of non-stop walking she had had enough and sat on her haunches, wincing as she sat on one of her tails "Stop! I'm too tired." She whined and got the Ninetales' attention enough to make them turn round and frown at her. She huffed and pouted; pointing her nose in the air "I can't be expected to walk this far when I'm not exactly used to this body. Also, you guys are a lot taller than me, so your walk is my run. Slow down!"

The two Ninetales gave her a rather irritated look and one of them approached her "Listen girl, you should be more courteous, considering that we are even taking you to where we live."

The other Ninetales came into her view and looked even angrier "Do not even dare talking to us as if you are our ruler! You are nothing but a young Vulpix now, and we will take you into the care of any willing Ninetales, be they nasty or nice, understood?" he growled and forced Alivia to reduce her proud position to that of a trembling mess. She nodded and both Ninetales turned around to move away again. "Come on now!" he barked and once again she was following behind, now sobbing.

As they continued their trek to wherever they lived, the scene had changed from the lazy sun shining over the fields, to the blood orange light that pierced through the trees of the forest that they had been walking in for at least an hour. Alivia couldn't help but feel insecure when everything looked so much bigger than her now in her new perspective. Finally her exhaustion caught up with her and she fell to the floor with a soft 'thud'. "Help!" she whimpered to them, prompting one of them to turn around and walk over to her.

"I'm only going to do this if you stop moaning okay?" she nodded weakly and soon felt a psychic energy compress around her body, lifting her up in the air. At first she was startled by being lifted, because she couldn't see anything hoisting her up. "Relax, I'm just using psychic to lift you. I wouldn't want to pick you up in my mouth. I don't know where you've been."

Alivia growled in response "Well the likelihood of you getting anything unclean is unlikely because I've only been a Vulpix for a few hours." She squeaked when she felt the force clamp down and squeeze at her. "Okay. Okay I'm sorry!" the squeeze was reduced and she sighed as she could breathe properly again.

"Enough with your attitude girl." The ninetales sneered.

"Can I at least get to know your name?" she asked.

His eyes flashed and within a few seconds, Alivia found herself on his back, her forelegs hanging off one side and her tails and back legs the other. "Well, if you really think it is necessary, my name is Enthal and I am one of the royal's best battlers. There hasn't been a battle that I've lost, unless under his majesty's order." She raised an eyebrow at that, but chose to ask questions later.

She looked ahead at the other ninetales and scowled "And who is he? Mister Grumpy-Ass?" she couldn't believe she had just used such a remark, but put it down to the fact she was tired from changing age and species all in one day.

Enthal gave a small chuckle at her rather short temper "Mister Grumpy-Ass, is actually called Kuron, and he just so happens to be the very reason that our clan is still alive. It was only months after he became a ninetales, and he was able to rid our clan of all the wrongdoers, so you must show your respect to him. Regardless of how well you fit into our clan, showing Kuron any disrespect will lose you your popularity, any and every inch of respect you gained would be lost." He explained, his tone getting more serious as he continued talking. "Alivia, if I were you, I would get some rest. It at least makes the journey back more peaceful for Kuron and I."

Alivia wanted to protest, but thought better of it and decided she would try to get answers when she woke up. "Fine." She sighed and went limp across Enthal's back, looking down as her body jerked in motion with his movements. She closed her eyes, a lonely tear forming at her right eye just as she though of all that she had just left behind, all because of a reaction she should've never made. The tear rolled to the end of her muzzle and leant over the edge of the nose before falling past her lips and then dropping lifelessly to the ground below. Her ears perked at the sound of its light tap and her head turned as she kept her eyes on the same spot for a few seconds, sighing again as she closed her eyes fully this time. Her mind was clouded with the memories that she had with her family; her tenth birthday, when she got her first A in an exam, when she watched as Titch hatched from his egg. These thoughts were stopping her from falling asleep, but eventually she found her own thoughts exhausting. She grunted and bobbed her head up for a second "I'm far too tired to even fall asleep."

Enthal looked back to see her laid on him, her head jerking restlessly. A small flash emitted from his eyes and he watched for a little bit longer until he had seen that she was completely out of it. "Finally we can get some peace, eh Kuron." He smiled as he caught up with the other ninetales who nodded and smiled. "As much as she complains, she is a pretty little thing wouldn't you agree?"

Kuron just looked ahead and kept a straight face "If you insist Enthal. I haven't taken any of my time to admire our new 'guest'. Of course, when the chance presents itself, I may decide to notice what you have. My greatest priority however is not the girl's life. I am far more interested in getting back to our clan."

"Oh don't be so sour faced." Enthal chuckled and flicked his tails towards the other ninetales. "You don't have to be so serious all the time. Besides, I'd say we had a pretty good day out up until our friend here decided to do what she did." He nudged his friend, forcing a weak smile from him. "And we won't even have to worry about her soon. We're only a couple hundred metres away from the clan now…I guess we'd better be ready to explain why we've come back with a young Vulpix."

Kuron huffed and walked ahead, speeding up almost as if he was trying to get away. "You mean YOU had better come up with a reason as to why you allowed yourself to take this wretched being back with us. She is only Vulpix in appearance." He replied sternly, getting further away from Alivia.

After a few more minutes of walking, the two of them came to a halt and both began to look around "All clear." They both said. The dense part of the forest they were in was certainly enough to cover them from above, and all of the shrubs and bushes around in the area meant that detection of another presence would be easier, but it also meant that they were more hidden from the outer inhabitants of the forest. Both ninetales stood next to each other and both called out "All clear" again, although it appeared as if they were the only two there.

Within an instant of their calls fading, another ninetales appeared from out of one of the bushes and quickly led them away "Good to see you two back." It smiled, obviously not noticing the body on top of one of them. "What took you so long anyway? I know that Enthal is usually running late on things, but Kuron, you're usually early if anything." The ninetales inquired.

Enthal blushed a little bit, knowing he would have to do the explaining due to Kuron's rather dull attitude. "Well, you see. I have a young Vulpix on my back and well…she hasn't always been a Vulpix. In fact, today is her first day of being one…..her first half a day." He chuckled nervously, looking across to see Kuron smirking.

The unnamed ninetales raised an eyebrow and looked to see the small girl on Enthal's back. "Ah, so you must see our leader at once, only he can decide what happens to her." She changed her direction and carried on walking through the shrubs.

Soon they were walking past various burrows and some of the young Vulpix poked their heads out to see their elder counterparts walking past on their own business. Kuron turned and went inside one of the larger burrows, before turning and nodding at the other two "Tell me the verdict on the girl. I'm intrigued to hear what our leader has to say about her…and about your actions." His face shifted into another smirk, making Enthal feel a slight unease about the whole situation now.

The two of them carried on walking through the street of burrows; paying no mind to the added attention they were getting "Just out of curiosity Enthal…how much do you value your life?" he frowned a little in thought but raised his head as he realised what the question actually meant.

"Look. I know what you're thinking, but trust me. The girl is going to be fine. She's likely to be put under someone's care and then that'll be then end of it. I don't see why you think that our leader won't be happy with me." He caught up to the other vulpine and looked across at her.

She looked back and cocked her head to the side slightly "Well I only think that because you changed her into one of our own species. I don't know what possessed you to do that, but I guess you have your reasons."

He shook his head and kept looking her right in the eyes "No, what happened is different to what was supposed to happen. She wasn't meant to become one of our species, but when she spoke out differently, the changes themselves had changed, so then she became what she is now…it's as confusing for me as it is for you."

The ninetales rolled her eyes and looked back at Enthal "It's only a little bit confusing. That girl must have some kind of willpower and inner strength that only most can dream of. It's especially strange how this inner strength came from her, a human. Those creatures will never cease to amaze me." She paused and the two of them exchanged knowing looks as they approached a large cave "Well. You know where to go now. I'll be waiting for you when you and the girl are done." She smiled.

He licked her cheek and walked past, stopping and turning around at the mouth of the cave "Thanks Irio." He turned back around and made his way into the cave as he vanished from Irio's sight.

The cave itself was dimly lit by several will-o-wisp flames that acted as a guide for anyone who entered. The light sparking off of their blue flames licked at the surface of the grey stone walls that made up the entire cave. The flames seemed to be less and less sparse the further inside Enthal went. He stopped just outside the light at the point it went from blue to orange. He knew that he was now close and only a few more paces would bring him into view of the large fire that the royals had burning as a comfortable substitute for their normal beds. "Excuse me." He choked, feeling more nervous now that he was there. He paced forwards until he was able to see some of them resting in the inferno's embrace, the heat hugging at them and making them feel secure. "I'm ever so sorry that I am late back your majesties, but I come with something that may spark some interest for you." His ears fell back as he anticipated a scolding for interrupting his superiors.

A large male stepped out of the flames and looked Enthal in the eyes; his facial expression was serious and his eyes suggested his harsh character. The few scars that left bald patches in his fur showed his experience he had as a ruler. "Ah, Enthal." He said, a kind smile starting to form on his face. "What was it that you needed to see me for?" his head tilted and he took a step closer, still making Enthal uneasy.

Enthal looked to the ground and gave a small chuckle "Well….if you look at what is on my back, you will see why I have come here."

"I see. And what has happened to this child?" he asked in a blunt tone, his face reshaping into the serious frown. He walked up to the Vulpix on Enthal's back and inspected it. "I can see nothing out of the normal. She seems to be a healthy young Vulpix." He looked back to the other ninetales.

Enthal looked back with a sheepish smile on his face "Well it's not her health your majesty. It's actually her first few hours as a Vulpix.." he was cut off by his leader.

"But that's near impossible. How does this newborn child appear so large and have three tails. She seems to me like she would be no more than four years old in stature." He frowned back at his battler.

Enthal coughed weakly and bit his lip "You see that's just it your majesty. She is one of the cursed. She was a human just in the area we were scanning. We tried to catch one of the rodents, but she was so sure to save it. When we tried to take what we could from her she made the grand misfortune of grabbing one of my tails." He shivered as he revealed the last bit of information.

The leader looked on at the girl for a few more seconds before turning back to his subject "And she has been in this state ever since the change, yes?" Enthal nodded "I see. It is of course a delight for us to welcome another into our clan, but this wasn't exactly how a young one would come into our clan in the first place. It is quite surprising that her form was determined as one of our kind. Either way, we must take action on this."

He frowned and looked again at his loyal subject "Are you certain she has been sleeping the whole time?" Enthal lowered his head and shook it slightly. "Right, well then, perhaps I should hear the girl speak." And almost as if on cue, Alivia started to stir from her sleep.

"N-no. Don't do it. You can't, I won't let you." She growled before snapping her eyes open and looking around "Oh please tell me this is just the result of another party." She felt her heart sink when she looked down to see her two front paws in front of her. "Great.." she said, sarcasm dripping off of her voice. She looked at Enthal's head and whistled the best she could in her new form "Hey Enthal, I'm awake. You can get me down now." She grumbled, but quickly went silent as she caught sight of the other ninetales in her view "You're not Kuron…"

She was lifted off of his back and placed onto the ground. "State your name girl."

Enthal almost hid behind his own tails from fear of her reaction going terribly wrong for her "Who's asking?" the leader gave a small chuckle before looking straight at her again.

"Well, I suppose you have the right to know. I am this clan's leader and my name is Vysivia. And as a result of your new form, this makes me your leader too. So girl, your leader commands for your name."

She sighed and looked up at him with half lidded eyes, raising an eyebrow "Well which name do you want?" she smirked, holding back whatever she could.

Vysivia frowned a little bit to her response and lowered his head towards her "Whichever you feel is appropriate."

Alivia perked up at this and sat up straight, pushing her chest out proudly "My name is Alivia, your majesty. I am sorry if I gave off a bad impression. You must understand my temper after an induced sleep." She glared back at Enthal.

Vysivia's head turned with hers and her glared at Enthal "Is that so?" she nodded and smirked back at Enthal. "Well I will see to it that his punishment will be given. Enthal you are dismissed for now. Only return upon my order. It seems you have already given this girl enough poor treatment. Be gone with you." He growled, forcing Enthal to turn and run out of there. "I am sorry about his behaviour. Usually Enthal is far better than that." He looked back at his family within the flames and smiled "Anyway Alivia, what I said has to be done. We must take action, despite your case being particularly peculiar. The only problem is that this is the first time we have had to deal with your case, so I am unsure on what to do." He flicked his head towards the fire subtly.

Alivia narrowed her eyes and she looked in his direction at the fire to see that there were many other ninetales in there and they were all staring out at the two of them. "Excuse me Vysivia, but why are they all staring at me?" she sat back and lowered her ears.

He did nothing to move out of her vision "Child, they are the rest of my family. They are curious of your arrival and I am sure that they have heard of your origins now." He sighed as he watched her get lower to the ground "Do not fear child, with your new form we wouldn't harm you without reason."

"Isn't being a human a reason then?" she whimpered.

He shook his head and smiled as he wrapped all of his tails around her, pulling her in to him "You aren't a human anymore." He paused as she calmed down. "Alivia, perhaps you would be accepting enough to stay with my family. There is still much I would like to learn about you. Of course, staying with us comes with its benefits. You will be treated as such in the status you would be living in. We would expect you to act in the same manner that our family must show to our subjects. You must be regal, you must be impeccably authoritative. Anyone who does not obey you shall be sent to me. Do you understand?" he raised an eyebrow, seeming to raise one of his scars at the same time.

Alivia thought over what he said and noticed how the question itself had turned into an order and she knew that she would have to accept being part of their family for at least a little while. "I accept you majesty." She bowed her head slightly, almost feeling the inferiority to him.

He smiled at her and chuckled "Dear child you needn't address me in such a way. You may call me by my name. You are no longer below in anything other than line of succession. You may be involved in any way you wish. I do however expect you to cooperate to any of the questions either my family or myself ask you about your past life, whether it be personal or not. We will expect an answer of truth and nothing less."

A small smile appeared on Alivia's face and she nodded "You shan't have to worry about getting a truthful answer from me. I will provide help anywhere necessary."

He smiled "Good. Then I can declare it to my ministers in an assembly tomorrow morning. You may spend the rest of the day here with my family. You will have to attend with me for proof of validity." She nodded and followed him in the large fire, resting in the centre of it, away from any o the others despite the fact she could feel the heavy weight of their stares on her. She looked out for moments more before realising she was actually in the life of a Vulpix now. She just hoped that her treatment as a royal would be a lot better than her journey to the clan.

**A/N:**** Hope you guys liked it. It may seem like it's getting off to a slow start, but rest assured, it will get more interesting. Please review. I know I've said it a million times, but your reviews are what boost me to continue writing. Seeing what's good or what can be improved gives me the incentive to keep writing. Thank you, and I'll update soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**** Well, I'm finally back. I'm sorry it's been such a long time. For those of you who have patiently waited, thank you; I appreciate your patience. Anyway, here is the next chapter. I do not own Pokemon, but I do own the characters in the story.**

**Chapter 3**

Alivia looked around at the larger pokemon who had her surrounded and she felt paralysed by their stares. However, her fiery attitude got the best of her and she looked back to them, sporting a poker face "Has something caught your attention?" she quipped, almost catching the ninetales off guard. Some of them stared back at her, trying to shame her of her bold move. However, her reaction caused a few of them to give an entertained smile. She turned and stood up, looking directly at them now "Well? Is it something I'm doing?" she looked over herself and then back to the ninetales who remained watching her. "C'mon, the suspense is killing me." She blurted, a strong sarcastic tone in her voice.

Finally she heard a voice other than her own and she smiled some as she saw a ninetales approaching her, the voice belonged to a male and he seemed to be awfully cheerful "Oh you are such a delight miss Alivia. I have no doubt you will almost be seen as a royal if you act like that in public; demanding attention, demanding answers." He called out as if he was challenging others to argue. As Alivia looked up she could see a smile on his face when no one did speak up, letting the silence build inside the flames.

The eccentric ninetales stepped back and bowed to her, chuckling to himself "My apologies miss. I should have the manners of a royal, and therefore I will present you with the information you surely require. My name is Drio. As you have already figured out, I am one of the royals. However, I am in no way close to the position of Vysivia. I am a rather meek claim, to put it in simple terms. If you want to know what it's like to be next in line ask that kid there." His eyes flashed a vibrant colour for only a second, and then the same light seemed to shine on a younger looking ninetales, who looked somewhat like Vysivia "That's the main heir. Jadunius and he is Vysivia's boy." The light faded and once again it appeared as if they were the only two in the flames.

Drio seemed to smile down at Alivia, his facial features seeming to be rather untouched unlike Vysivia's, although the signs of aging were clear. Once again his voice took up her hearing "Now my dear, if there is anything you ever need to know; be it something as simple as royal manners, then do not hesitate to look for me. I am old and frail, but the nine hundred and eighty years of experience will surely become of use to your rather…vague understanding of our life." He boomed out another laugh and she could almost feel herself wanting to laugh along with him. Her eyes moved away from the elderly pokemon and stared at a certain point. Drio was quick to notice and smirked at her behaviour "You're thinking about talking to him." He stated, letting Alivia look back in shock and she quickly shook her head to deny the statement "Oh come now, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You are simply curious." He chuckled and nudged her. "I'm certain he is as intrigued by your arrival as all of us are." The ninetales hummed and chuckled again, a hearty laugh soon developing after it. "Now my dear, I overheard Vysivia saying that you must answer any questions we are to ask? Is that true?" she nodded in response.

Before Drio could further his talk, Alivia jumped in "Go ahead…ask me questions." She said; her tone sharp and slightly irritated. "I agreed to it, so I have to, right?" she grew a playful smile and looked up to her elder with a wink. Her face reverted back to a frown when she heard his grand laughter fill out the cave's room, the sound echoing, although it was difficult to hear through the crackling of the flames that all the pokemon were housed in. "What?"

Drio continued to laugh; the older pokemon's skin seemed to ripple in time with his laughter. He slowly started to calm down and he looked back down to the human-turned-vulpix "For a human who has only been a Vulpix for a short time, your antics are very similar, and that face you put on was absolutely down to a tee." He cleared his throat "However, I will not be the one to allow you the exception. I would like to know a few things. Firstly, I didn't listen too much, so I don't know how you actually came to be one of the cursed. Would you care to explain?" he smiled and sat down, gesturing for Alivia to join him so she could tell the tale. "Oh and try not to be too vague. I like the details of it all. I'd never normally have the chance to ask this question." She shrugged and sat down next to him, agreeing with his last point.

"Well what happened was; my friend and I were lazing about in a large field when two of your 'best' ninetales came out and tried to kill my friend, Titch, so I got in their way. Then they had the cheek to try and take my lunch away from me a-" the older voice of Drio's cut in.

"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but did you or did you not get in the way of their possible lunch?" he raised a brow and gave her a cheeky smile. Alivia tried to defend herself, but it was all coming out as stutters as she tried to piece together words to help out her cause. The ninetales smirked and hushed her so he could continue "I believe that they were only acting on what was just. You denied them a meal possibly, so maybe it was only just if you lost your meal." He explained.

Alivia shook her head and looked up at the ninetales "No..lunch had passed by then. For me anyway." She defended, her stutters having died down "Anyway, as I was saying. They were taking my lunch, so I tried to stop them from doing that. I accidentally touched Enthal's tail though…or I tripped on it…I can't really remember. It happened so fast I kinda see it like a blur right now." She explained "But to make a long story short, touching the tail made me change into this…oh and another thing. Next time someone gets cursed, at least give them some pain relief. Having your body changed like that is not comfortable. In fact I can still feel my bones aching now." She huffed her last point across, although it only served to make the ninetales laugh again.

Drio gave out a content sigh and smiled down at Alivia "I am afraid Arceus did not equip us with such abilities. The power to curse that he bestowed upon us was a high enough gain that considering such a small part seems unnecessary. Perhaps you will understand as you grow older in this clan." He teased, infuriating her a little bit more with every reminder that she was no longer the species that she was used to being. He smiled and charmed his words "Alivia, I must say you do seem like you have a sharp mind. It is that coupled with your quick wit, I assume it is why you talked to Vysivius in the way you did." He chuckled lightly "I could see you were treading very closely to the point where I am certain he would have killed you. Yet, he seemed to be charmed by your attitude." The old ninetales hummed happily to himself as he thought some more.

Alivia turned her head away as she heard the light padding of paws making their way across to the duo. Once the pokemon got close enough, she could pick it out as the Ninetales prince, Jadunius. He looked at the two of them with a small scowl, already alerting the Vulpix to the fact he was likely to be hostile towards her after what he had heard. She was soon nudged back to reality when she saw that Drio was urging her forwards to go up to the young ninetales ahead of her. She shook her head in silence despite the fact that Jadunius had been keeping a steely glare on her since she had entered the fire bed. He smiled and nudged her forwards some more, pushing her away until it was obvious that the gap between them had decreased. Jadunius narrowed his eyes at her and stepped closer, before barking out "Filthy pest! Do you know how lucky you are to even be alive still? You even had the audacity to talk back to my father; the most respected and feared pokemon in the whole forest." He gave a wicked grin, although Alivia could see that there was no happiness in the smile at all "I know what your kind is like. You all think you can have it all and expand your clans far beyond any other species. Frankly, I find it an insult that you were even brought back here. You have been cursed to one of us, but you can never truly be one of us; legend would only speak of you as 'The Cursed One'." He smirked; proud of his insults and foreshadowing.

Without realising it, Alivia started growling, retaliating just how the prince was expecting "He's the most respected you know. I didn't know him at the time and therefore I had every right to talk back. Besides, I apologised." She snapped, stopping her growling because she was starting to get a little worried of her own self control "And if you knew the kind of things that I do, then you'd know that history is only made by the winners, and if I'd be a legend, then guess what, I'm already one step closer to being remembered more than you." She smirked back at the prince, causing him to feel deflated; his attack had been reduced to nothing in mere seconds, just by some words.

He thought for a moment "Yes, as smart as you may be though, you were still foolish enough to get yourself cursed." He replied, shooting back his own smirk. The two of them started growling at each other until they were literally moved away from each other by an invisible force. Jadunius was the first to react and he groaned "Father, stay out of this. I was defending your honour from this pest." He snarled as he huffed at Alivia, steam making it out of his nostrils.

Vysivius made his appearance and glared at his prince "Jadunius, I expect you to treat her with respect. If I needed my pride defended I would do it myself. She was in every right to question who I was. I made that clear from the beginning. If you want to talk to her then please be civil; it doesn't reflect very well on public view of our royal status." Vysivius droned.

The prince squirmed and growled at his father, his red eyes seeming to go deeper until they were a blood red, much darker than normal. "Father unhand me at once." He shouted, getting the attention of everyone inside the fire. Vysivia shrugged and the hold that he had on them faded; Alivia just about landed on her feet, although she was standing with a slight unease and fear towards the hostile prince. He growled as he stormed up to his father "Why do you subject me to your punishments and cruel talks if I have done nothing but defend you. Are you just asking for some other pokemon to come out of nowhere and seize your position? It wouldn't have to be anyone from this family. It could be anyone who felt strong enough to take the chance on the day. You know that, and by this little brat talking back at you as if there is no hierarchy, it will only encourage those from lower ranks than yourself. Potentially you have let our 'guest' know that she can get away with such things that normally one would be scolded for." He turned before waiting for a response; his tails flicking right in the face of the older ninetales as he headed towards Alivia.

"And you!" he snarled "You are not welcome here by any; once we have lost our intrigue do you know what will happen to you?" she shook her head, shaking with fear as he teased her by showing his full set of sharp teeth, almost like a threat "We will throw you away for some disadvantaged family and then you will be out of our minds for good. In fact we could actually wipe your mind if we wanted to. Hmm, how kind that would be. You would be less likely to stand over your superiors. However, if you don't like the sound of that, there is always another alternative: death." He smiled at her with a toothy grin, but the way he spoke made it sound as if he was being an innocent party in the conversation. Alivia's eyes welled up with tears the more he continued and as she did, his grin grew wider until even he started to laugh despite the cruel circumstances.

Alivia stared daggers back at him, the tears that were falling had ceased for the moment and she could only feel rage in her body as well as the fire that was in her heart "You know, it's not fair of you to judge me like that…" she sniffled, trying to regain some composure "You haven't even given me a chance to prove to you that I'm not just some girl who got cursed." Jadunius frowned, but his eyes went wide as he say his father's own tails wrap around the girl as she spoke. Although a little bit surprised, she carried on "I haven't done anything yet, and maybe once I do something your mind will change and then I hope you feel guilty. Just because you are a prince, it doesn't mean you have to shout at me all the time." Her anger started to rise "Do you think I chose to be here? No! I didn't, all I did was save a friend and I got caught up in the mix of it all. I never asked for this. It came to me. The sooner you think about that, the easier it will be for you to stand me. Even if I am put with some disadvantaged family after this, I am sure that they would be more understanding than you!" she yelled, her voice feeling hoarse after it and she started sobbing again. Vysivius shot a glare to his son before bringing Alivia closer into him.

Jadunius looked visibly guiltier and his ears flopped back as his father gave him a cold, hard stare. "Do not fret my dear. Jadunius is just newly evolved and the massive changes can often make one's body react differently to how it normally would. As a Vulpix he was always so cheerful and making everyone happy. It may take a few more days or so to adjust completely, but hopefully after then he should be less hostile." Alivia nodded in acknowledgment and she gave a childish smirk to the prince, sticking her tongue out as he watched. She couldn't help but giggle a little bit at his sorry sight.

His tails let go of her and Vysivius stood up "Now, I must go and tend to a few minor problems. However, I would like to ask you just one thing before I go. How do you humans communicate over a long distance, and how does your kind manage to have an understanding of our species, to the point where some may even go and be with a human in a partnership? It has truly baffled me."

She turned herself away from Jadunius to look up at the leader "Well that is actually two questions, but hey you're the leader right?" she chuckled nervously before starting "Well…obviously I'm not going to be able to do this any more, but when I was a human I would use something that's called a mobile phone…well some of my friends call it a cell phone, but it's basically the same thing. On these phones you can call people from anywhere, so you can talk to them if they are half way across the world. But if you don't do that you can type out a text…uh, using words but you can see the words…that's pretty much all there is to it. Usually the further away the call, the more expensive it is." She looked up to see that the leader was frowning in confusion. At first she thought that it may have been offending him, but his frown softened and he gestured for her to continue. "Oh, the second one?" he nodded back at her. She didn't look, but she could feel Jadunius's frown directed at her "I guess it can be a bit confusing if you've never come into contact with one. Anyway, I'm no pokemon professor, so I don't know the science behind it all, but I guess that if a pokemon and a human get along, it's like making a best friend appear. Everyone needs a friend and if that friend then chooses to follow you for a bit, then I guess the friendship can grow stronger. I think the fact that there is a language barrier between pokemon and humans means that the two can often understand how each other is feeling without having to talk all the time, which makes the bond seem that much more special. The fact they don't have to rely on verbal communication would mean that in tight situations they would know what to do and trust each other." She stopped and smiled at the thought, although she and Titch had clearly never become that close because he often did his own thing. "I never really knew what it was like, but it isn't just your species; any species of pokemon can form a friendship with a human…do humans pass through here often?" she asked, her curiosity peaking.

Jadunius snorted and walked over to the two of them again, his attitude was reeking arrogance "How could you not know? I bet you've been through these parts before. Humans occasionally pass by, but most of us are well hidden. It is only those few that have their curiosity about them, that actually go to communicate with a human." He showed a small smile as he thought of the possibilities. Alivia raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head "How foolish of you to believe that I dislike humans. No, I admire some of them. You however, are different; I despise you because you are an impostor. You shouldn't be here." He whispered the last part in her ear, making sure that only she heard.

Alivia seemed unfazed by this and kept an eyebrow raised at him "Yeah, like you haven't drilled that into me enough." She exhaled quickly. "Anyway, those are your answers Vy." She responded casually. Jadunius frowned at the nickname, unsure of how his father would react. However, he assumed it would be a moderate reaction after seeing his attitude towards her before.

The older ninetales chuckled and his tails gently brushed over her head as if they were patting her "Oh what an interesting combination on my own given name. Vy. It sounds short and sweet." He smiled and even nuzzled her a little bit, much to the distaste of his watching son. "I must go now Alivia, there are duties to attend to. Jadunius will play nicely from now on." I shot a smirk to the younger ninetales, feigning a smile at him to give the impression that I was excited. "Anything you want to know then ask him. I will return later and come in to rest. Then I shall wake you up at the appropriate time so we can officially induct you into the clan." He smiled and left me to ponder for a moment "Unless of course you feel strong enough to survive outside our clan?" he laughed, a hint of pleasure in his voice as he saw the girl almost crumble at the thought "Oh do not fear. We both know you do not want to risk your life." She shook her head to him "Great! We shall be ready and leave tomorrow." He turned and strode out of the flames until he was out of sight completely, his strides looking elegant as they would with any ninetales, but his demanded the attention that he was getting, and it was hard not to watch him walk away. He was definitely an interesting character for Alivia to try and figure out.

Alivia looked back at Jadunius and gulped, no longer feeling confident with Vysivius there to protect her. The other royals seemed like they couldn't care less what the first heir would do. She stepped back and laughed nervously as he approached, his eyes fixed on her "So…yeah, what I said was a bit of a joke you know? Nothing harmful meant from it." She tried to grin, but felt too afraid. However, she was surprised when he passed her and picked her up in his own psychic hold. She frowned as she was turned around to see him walking away, she was carried behind him. "Y'know I can walk. I know I'm not in an old body, but I can definitely walk. How do you think I got here?"

He turned and smirked back at her "From what I can gather you were carried in by Enthal, so I can only assume that you did not walk at all. I wouldn't be taking any chances on you tripping. From what I can see, my father would be desperately unhappy to see you injured." He groaned and took a step closer "If I didn't know any better, soon he would be naming you his next heir ahead of me. Soon though he will see past your sweet talk. Your innocent looks hides the demon in which you were originally and my father will then be rid of you." He warned, baring his teeth again. Alivia looked around in desperation to see if Drio was close by to help; the prince though was one step ahead and shook his head "Drio is loyal to his superiors and as much as he may like to help you; he has already sworn his loyalty to my father and any of my father's descendant, which surprise surprise includes me."

He turned around again and started walking into the far corner of the cave, although it was still just inside the large fire that held all of the royals. The grey stony walls of the cave were illuminated to a dull orange, making the area seem lazy and peaceful. Alivia tried to claw through the air to stop moving in his hold "You know once I can do that, I am going to whoop your…"

"I don't think that will happen for a long time though. You are still just a young Vulpix and therefore cannot learn such moves until you evolve. At your age, you have a long time to wait, which means you will likely forget this incident. I have no need to worry about you, little one." He taunted at her, looking back to see her face, a mix of shock and anger "You're not the only one with a quick wit. Drio can often glorify something that perhaps isn't as grand as you may think. Just think of it as evolution. You are the lesser version of me." He smirked and dropped her carelessly to the hard ground. "There is some comfortable bedding over there. I have a duty to watch over you, so make it easy for both of us and go to sleep like a good little one." His patronising tone making Alivia grit her teeth to hold back on a growl; she didn't want to lose her normal thought to the instincts and all she could do was fight it.

She slumped and plodded over to the bedding that was there. Sure enough the moment she stepped on it, it felt softer on her paws by a lot. It felt even a little bit bouncy and all it was, was a pile of grass and probably other things in there. She didn't know, but she laid down on the bedding and yawned, the fire right beside her meant that she had no trouble feeling cosy. She looked at the prince who was smirking at her. She straightened up to stop him from having the satisfaction seeing her do as he told. "I'm not even tired, so perhaps we should talk more, prince." She smirked back at him, although it was clear that there was anger lined in her face and her words.

He just sighed and smiled at her "Oh your sweet little words do not make me fear you." He chuckled and his eyes flashed for a moment, although it flashed a rather pale grey and it made Alivia feel drowsy. "A young Vulpix like you needs her sleep, especially for tomorrow." She tried to protest, but Jadunius interrupted again "Now now, we can talk in the morning. Go to sleep now." On his last word she collapsed lifelessly. He smiled as he watched her small form laying there, her chest slowly rising and falling as she had been induced into another sleep. "Filthy pest." He muttered.

**A/N:**** Well there you go folks, I hope you liked it. I sure enjoyed writing it for you. I'd really like to know what you guys think of it so far, so if you could kindly leave a review, it doesn't have to be long. Anyway, I'll update when I can, thank you, bye. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**** I'm back from my holidays and I'm glad to say that this chapter is complete and ready for all of you to see. So, all the usual disclaimer stuff and thank you.**

**Chapter 4**

Vysivius had been talking with the elders of the clan, discussing the subject of what to do with Alivia. It was set in his mind that he would keep the girl from harm, standing true to his kind's own morals. The others in the group however were strongly against this, seeming to side with the ruler's son and heir. "The girl was a mistake and should have never been involved. It would be complete idiocy to let her stay, particularly for what she was doing in her previous form. Enthal and-" one of the elders called out to its leader, as an act of defiance. Vysivius's ears perked at the sudden outcry, and unlike Alivia's defiance earlier, he did not look amused.

He snarled at the offender, his sharp teeth were able to be seen, making the scarred ninetales appear even more menacing. The elder soon shied away from its leader "I ask you elder, do you question my ideas out of spite? Or do you simply think I am unfit for the position of which I hold?" his tails fanned out in a threatening display to the others "Enthal and Kuron mistreated her, and you talk about this girl as if she committed a terrible crime. From what she has told Drio, I learned that the event only occurred because she was trying to complete a noble act. She gave up herself to save her small rodent friend." He explained to all of their unconvinced looks. "You are all so quick to jump to a conclusion on this girl. Is this why my own son has been acting this way? Has he become polluted by your tunnelled views? I will have none of this. You all know what I shall do. The girl is now part of our clan and she is also royalty for the time being. I will awake the girl so that we can make this official in all of your presence. Perhaps when I have no more to learn from her, then she shall be transferred across to another family, although I demand if this happens that the family are powerful and she will not be mistreated. If we mistreat one of our own kind then we make ourselves no better than the humans. Which I shall remind you of the fact that one of them is now a member of this clan." He raised an eyebrow, challenging anyone to speak up. He knew well that the clan would not defy him twice.

"Father I cannot stand to see you deluded. It is clear to me and the elders that the amount of stress you have been under recently has lead to the human exploiting the weaknesses shown." Jadunius appeared from behind his father, standing with a mean glare to match the cold tone that he used. The faint flicker of flames in the distance flared a small glow to emphasize the sight of the younger ninetales before them all.

Vysivius turned and frowned to his son, the elders watching on with a silent stare that could not be broken until the two had finished. "How dare you take that tone to your own father, as well as your leader. Unfortunately Jadunius, you will still have no say in our meetings until I am sure that you have grown up. Your actions over just the past few hours have proved to me just how much you have to grow. Your physical appearance is deceiving and clearly if anyone is unfit, it could be some of these elders." He turned and faced the elders that were watching the two of them "It does trouble me that my own kind is questioning me, when they are deceived by the appearance of others youth. For sure I am certain that my son will grow and mature to be a grand leader. However, he is far from that time."

Jadunius growled with a bitter tone "So you just expect us to accept the fact that a human is living amongst us. If anyone is being deceived, it is you father. You may be comfortable with this little game you have for the human, but we are wary of whatever she may plan." He responded with a serious tone, assuring his points with a nod of the head every so often. His tails were slowly swishing behind him and despite his eyes suggesting a relaxed demeanour, the young ninetales was in truth trying to outlast his father's will. His gaze was broken and his face curled into a frown of confusion as his father started chuckling aloud, the silence of the room was dominated by that sound alone. "What could have been funny about what I said?" Jadunius snarled, but the older ninetales continued, his own tails twitching and flailing in the same manner its owner was.

Vysivius turned and looked at his son again, a comical smile on his face before he started to walk past "My son, even if she did have a plan, she would not be able to execute it because she is not comfortable enough in her new form, and by the time she would be, she will likely have decided that there would be no point because any change that the curse makes is irreversible. You, me and most of the others in the clan know that. She would be foolish to try anything. Also, she is likely too scared and confused right now, despite her sharp talking, it is clear to me that she is very insecure at the moment." Jadunius followed his father away from the elders "Jadunius, I request that you treat her as if she were a friend of yours from now on. Don't think it escaped me that induced her sleep. You may regret the decision in the future." Was all Vysivius needed to say for his son to stop following and leave him in between the elder meeting point and his own home.

Vysivius huffed as he paced himself further from his kin; the younger one's attitude had made him unsure of his clan's loyalty to him. The thought had only crossed his mind once before, but that was whilst he was still young and far too naïve to understand the situation at the time. This time he was sure that there was at least one of the leading figures having thoughts of overturning his rule. Of course, there was little reason to worry because many of the others were loyal and would not switch at any point. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as the royal's living space along with the others. He peered inside to see that most of his blood were gone "Probably had things to do." He muttered to himself. "Must find the girl." He nodded to himself and let his body get engulfed by the vast inferno covering the entire living area, except for little corners that were just out of reach. It was truly a peaceful place for the royals to sustain their lives, and although some may deem the lifestyle rather boring, it was essential to keep the image that the royals were always watching over their subjects, making sure that they are their priority. This included even the minor royals to make visits to various parts of the clan, all to ensure that there was a settled and relaxed feeling throughout the clan. It was the easiest way to keep things under control. Panic can lead to irrational thoughts and irrational thoughts can lead to bad things more times than good. One brash decision could put Vysivius's well constructed dynastic legend at serious risk.

However, keeping the elders and his fellow royals calm was more difficult; they were more aware of everything going on, and it worried the leading ninetales that if someone such as his son were to become corrupted by the possibility of plotting elders, then his life would surely be at risk. The elders were smart, very smart, and because of that, Jadunius would be no more than a pawn in their game. If all of this were to take place then his dynasty would surely be erased from clan history. Those who spoke out against would face intolerable punishment. These were the things that Vysivius could see unfolding in his mind and every time it made him shiver.

Moving to the far right corner, Vysivius was just out of reach of the fire in which he lived in. In this corner he spotted the young Vulpix he had been searching for. She was lying at an awkward angle and he face seemed as if her sleep was anything but relaxing. The closer he got to her, the more he noticed that she was scrunching her face into a dissatisfying frown. The ninetales leaned down and nudged her with his nose, using just enough force to roll her onto her back. However, just at that moment she woke up and gripped tightly at his muzzle, her claws digging in immediately, making the older pokemon's eyes water from the sudden sting of pain. "Get away! Just because I don't know myself doesn't mean I'm afraid!" she growled. When her eyes opened, the determination in her voice was gone and her eyes filled with fear, knowing that she had done wrong. Without even thinking, she retracted her claws and fell down to the ground with a soft thud, looking up at the ninetales that now had a small trickle of blood running down the side of his muzzle. She shuffled away a little bit and gave a nervous chuckle before gulping "Uh…sorry Vysivius, I didn't mean to…I just…please don't hurt me." She whimpered.

Vysivius winced and could feel the blood edge its way down his muzzle, soaking the patch of fur that it ran down. He looked to the Vulpix with rage filled eyes, his previous frustrations starting to peak at this. However, looking into her eyes he could see that she was genuinely fearful of him now, the sight of a much larger being bearing down on her was too much and she started to scream. He calmed himself and pleaded with her "Forgive me Alivia, today has been very stressful for the both of us. I let my stress get the better of me." The last part was muttered, although he knew she would hear it, and it pained him to admit that he was being overcome by such a simple force. This confession did not calm the girl however; instead she continued to retreat back against the wall until she was pinned up against its rough surface, the reflection of the fire showing through her fear stricken eyes. "Alivia, please do not fear me. I did not intend to frighten you. It was an honest mistake on both parts I believe." He nodded, licking his lips only to get the metallic tang of blood to his tongue; he could feel the small wounds throbbing as they tried to heal, more blood trickling out, although it was slowing fast.

At his words she jumped up, still scared, but she was feeling more determined "What do you mean a fault on both parts? All I did was react naturally to being suddenly woken up…by the way you can thank your son for me being in that sleep. Once again I didn't ask for it." The girl defended.

"You still reacted by cutting into me, which caused me to react naturally as well did it not?" he raised an eyebrow to her and she was about to answer before she closed her mouth again, sighing out through her nose. She had calmed down and wasn't scared anymore, so she slid down the wall she was up against, closing her eyes as she got to the floor. "What I was here for was you." She opened her eyes and shrugged at him the best she could, "We need to validate your position in the clan. Or else you will not be treated well or even thrown out of here. Regardless of what you are now or what you ever have been." He paused to gauge her reaction; she blinked with a stoic expression and nodded. "You took that rather well…" he shook his head "Anyway, we must go now to make your place official. I warn you, although you may already know, your presence here isn't very well accepted here; some may even choose to disregard the knowledge in disgust, but do not take offence, we are just not used to this happening."

Alivia jolted to life at those words "How can I not be offended? I am going to be looked at like I'm a pile of dirt!" she snapped "I know I'm not your average Vulpix, but seriously they have got to understand I didn't mean to be where I am. It's hard not to get offended or upset if no one likes me…they don't do they?" she asked, not from the hope she was wrong, but because she was looking for assurance. "I knew it! Fine let's get this over with…I've had enough attention from the others in here anyway." She rubbed around her eyes and stood on her paws.

She started to walk past Vysivius, her body language softening in an instant when he was out of her sight. "What is that tone you keep on using? It is confusing, I think you're saying something, but the way you say it gives me the feeling you're saying something else." He watched as her ears twitched and she looked around at him with a confused expression "Your last words?" he tried to remind but she widened her eyes and looked at him fearfully. His eyes widened for a moment as he realised what he said. "No, I meant the last words you said were just an example of that tone."

She thought for a moment "Oh…you don't know what sarcasm is?" she raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head in response. She walked closer to him as if examining as a result of an experiment "Well when I said I've had enough attention from them, I was using that tone to basically tell you that it was the complete opposite. I only got attention from Drio and your son…I am not a solitary creature…I do need to talk to other rather than being stared at, which I know is attention, but not the good kind." She rambled, only receiving several nods from the leader for the duration of the rant; in truth the words were going straight over his head after she told him about the tone.

To move along he broke out of his daydream and smiled down at Alivia "Come on then. Let's go to the elders, and remember what I said." The girl sighed, but followed him nonetheless, knowing when it was time to give in. "Any questions whilst we get there? Make them quick though." He chuckled, making her frown suspiciously at him. He looked down to her and noticed, mimicking her "Come on, what could I possibly do?"

She snickered at him and shook her head, her footing becoming uneven and she nearly tripped at the action, but soon she regained balance "Do you really want me to answer that? Just a moment ago you were pretty much waiting to kill me…that is what you could possibly do." They exited the royal's cave and Alivia gave a small cough as the two of them finally cleared themselves from the smoke, before realising that nothing was in her lungs "Okay then, here's a question; why am I not coughing on the smoke? That was never a normal thing for me."

"The smoke is not going to affect you as much now because of what you have become. This does not however you are immune; you are simply more tolerant of its properties." He explained, increasing his pace as the two of them drew closer to their destination. "Alas young one, we are arriving. I will answer any questions you may have after this meeting. However, now your time of judgement has come."

Alivia froze up and was struck with a sharp shot of fear that took the apprehension from her mind. Vysivius noticed her reaction almost instantly and moved to push her along with him, giving an irritated sigh "I didn't mean that kind of judgement. When this is done I'm going to need to know what you get fearful of."

Alivia looked up at him "Anything that could bring me to death. That does also include anyone of you guys baring your teeth at me." She pouted, feeling confident enough again to not be pushed. When she looked away from him she saw that she was in a large area that looked like it was a cave, but something about it seemed different. Other than the fact that there wasn't a large fire there, it looked almost the same, but the air inside there felt different, and oddly stale, although lighter because there was far less smoke in the air. In an almost perfect crescent shape were many ninetales sitting down and looking at her. Alivia soon felt as small as she was again and shook a little bit, muttering to Vysivius "Do you think they heard what I said?" she didn't even need to look back to know that he had nodded. Some of the on looking ninetales cast a sly smirk to her, making her feel even more uneasy in front of them. From appearances she could tell that most of these ninetales were in the latter half of their lives because their faces, particularly their eyes showed the wear that their life had taken on them. "These are the elders, right?" Vysivius nodded and then stepped into the middle of the crescent with her.

He cleared his throat and swept a looked across to each of the ninetales there. "I know what you are all thinking. I know you think that this girl is an abomination. My brothers I do not come here pleading your mercy for this poor soul. No. I come here showing you that we have nothing to fear. Alivia is now only separated from us by her memories. If we are able to survive longer as a clan then you must understand that with the increasing number of encounters with humans we need to adapt and get smarter. If we want to reduce the risks then we must have the edge over the humans. The only foreseeable way to have the edge over them is for us to know more about them." He looked around the room and waited for any reaction "Do you not see what I am suggesting, my brothers?" all of them stayed still and silent. "I do not understand how you can miss the solution in which we have been unexpectedly provided with." He cheered, urging a response.

Alivia stepped away from Vysivius and called out "All of you listen!" All the ninetales gasped at her loud introduction "Vysivius is talking about me. Apparently I'm the solution to helping you all out, saving your clan possibly." They all stared at her, dumbfounded, having expected a young child's voice to have come from the small body. The voice was what they expected, but the tones and the words she used told them that she was older as a human than what she was as a Vulpix "I know it sounds unlikely…I mean if I was you I would definitely be sceptical of a little vulpix that used to be a human and then she was claiming that she can help save your clan…that does sound really sketchy doesn't it? But you really must listen to Vy, he knows what he's talking about, and although he's never actually mentioned that part to me, I can only agree. I am no threat to you…heck if I tried anything I am certain I wouldn't be alive for longer than ten seconds after…and because I'm not a threat, the only thing I can do is help you, even if you don't trust me after I do help you. If I have to stay this way, which I'm pretty sure I've been told I do have to, then the least I can do is help my uh…my 'kind'." She winced as she finished her last word, the memory hitting her at full force. She swallowed it down and grinned at them sheepishly. She turned her head to Vysivius who was smiling at her and gesturing for her to continue "I hope you can look past what you see in me. The fact I have to stay as what I am means that I now kinda have a moral obligation to help you all. I will co-operate as much as possible. My knowledge of how humans behave and react will be useful because that way we can all work out the best way to keep them away…The only risk I can think of is that if we are too enthusiastic in our approach and we use every tactic all at once, the humans will get curious, trust me, they are creatures of curiosity and as you know, they are often quite opportunistic, so we want to avoid making them curious. I have so many ideas already, but I must ask of you to please give out even just a little bit of your trust into me." She finished, bowing down to all of them and looking to the leader once again to see his smile as wide as it was before.

Vysivius took to the centre and captured the attention away from Alivia, letting her recover "So you see my brothers, the girl is willing to help us because she knows where she now belongs. Although I am sure you may find it difficult to believe, the best way to keep humans at a distance is by using a human's knowledge, and this is the best opportunity we have. You may see this as a blessing I disguise. On another note, I must urge you to all treat Alivia with respect at all times you are working with her…" he looked back at her and narrowed his eyes in thought before he turned again and announced "In fact, you will do as she says because from this moment on I declare her the newest member of the royal family. She is nothing significant in there; however, she does have more power than you all. To add to this, she can also tell me anything, and you are all aware of how any family will protect their relatives no mater what." He stated in a cold tone, delivering the hidden message just as he wanted. "Is that understood?" all the other ninetales nodded in acknowledgement, making their leader smile "Alivia, address your kind with a pardon." He nodded.

"Uh, pardon?" she replied, feeling confused. She looked to see that all of the ninetales were now bowing to her, making her the same height as them for a moment until they rose "Thank you for listening to what we had to say?" her voice was shaking from the situation she was in. She recalled in her mind, Vysivius saying that she was now part of his family, so she had more power, and she was now addressing them. The moment it dawned on her that she was now the centre of attention she assumed the role as best she could "I ask for your assistance, and I ask that you be kind to me. Any gratuitous behaviour and I will see to it that you regret that action. Now if you could, please leave this room, we will reconvene when I believe we are ready to start the work. Vysivius and I have to discuss further topics and we wish that these remain private. Finally, if you wish to ask me any questions, either about what we will try to achieve, or about my past, then do not hesitate to come over and ask for me, Alivia. You can all leave now." She nodded and gestured one of her forepaws to the exit with one quick swish.

The moment that the last of the elders had left, Alivia turned to Vysivius and snapped "What the heck? You just dropped me into something as big as that without even asking me…How do you think I'm going to be able to keep humans away just through knowledge because I was one? And y'know, I may be a vulpix now, but it doesn't mean I'm completely broken on the inside. I still have everything mentally that I did have when I was a human. That does mean that I have some kind of loyalty to my own…my former species." She paced back and forth, muttering empty curses, her face scrunching in frustration as she knew she had to decide between the two.

Vysivius broke her pacing "I cannot truly understand how it must feel, but I am sure that being reminded that your humanity has been taken is as painful as a heavy dowsing of water. However, you must see this as an opportunity. As your leader I command you to carry out the duty of safeguarding the clan's secrecy from humans." Her eyes widened in horror at the command, the fur on her back raising slightly as she shook her head, trying to deny her ears of what she heard, trying to convince herself that she wasn't being told what to do by another pokemon, it was too surreal for her. She huffed and looked at him "I trust you have no problems even after your little outburst?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You can't be serious!" she barked, her tails rising on instinct to try and form a threatening display "You can't just order me about after everything that happened. I didn't agree to suddenly being your tool to help some pokemon that I don't even know…not that I wouldn't, I mean…" she whimpered as Vysivius's expression shifted to a darker side, showing the girl why he was the leader and what he went through to defend that position. Vysivius closed his eyes and turned his back to her in an attempt to calm himself, for both of their sakes "Vysivius, I'm sorry." Alivia said as she took a couple of steps closer before tripping over her feet and accidentally tumbling into his back legs, knocking the ninetales over in the process.

Alivia stood up straight away to check if he was okay, but she was caught out by a shout from just inside the area "I knew it! I knew you were plotting to kill all of us!" she looked to the source and saw Jadunius glaring at her, his red eyes were fixed on her with an angry flare about them. Alivia backed away from Vysivius as he got up, assuming the worst from it all. Vysivius stood in the way of his son "Father, step aside, I will rid you of this little wretch. I saw it with my own eyes that she dived in to attack you." He tried to get past, but the older ninetales was one step ahead and blocked the younger one's path.

"I didn't do anything I swear. I fell over and hit him…it wasn't intentional." The girl defended, staying a safe distance back so that she wouldn't be struck down. "Jadunius, I promise I wasn't trying to hurt anyone…please forgive me for what I did." She bowed her head in hope that the situation would be resolved at that point, although she knew that it would not be that simple as she heard Jadunius struggle to get past his father. "Vysivius, let him through, he wouldn't hurt me…not seriously, he just wants a scare for me to remember him by. Isn't that right?" she tilted her head, a small smile emerging from her, letting the younger ninetales know that she was getting satisfaction out of his anger, which would only serve to infuriate him more.

Before Vysivius could protest, Jadunius propped himself up high enough so that he had a clear view of Alivia. Vysivius held his breath in anticipation for a few seconds as the two stared at each other. Vysivius sighed as nothing happened for a few more seconds, but he recoiled as a large blast of fire screeched past him, blocking any sight of Alivia as she was taken in by a wall of fire. Jadunius cheered triumphantly. "What have you done!? You must stop acting so irrational. It will cost many lives if you continue."

Jadunius rolled his eyes "Spare me your words of wisdom. Just a moment ago they nearly got you killed. You should be thanking me, father. She is gone now and you are safe; I will only protect our kind, especially you father." He smiled warmly to his father. His ears perked and he looked back to the large wall of flames to hear faint giggles coming from inside "…How can she possibly? Even a vulpix like her would not be able to take that blast." He muttered to himself as he saw the small figure emerge from the flames, shaking herself to get rid of a shiver she was feeling. Jadunius leapt at her and knocked her to the ground, making her yelp as her body scraped on the ground, the small jolts of loose rocks and stones dug into her skin. He picked her up roughly and threw her from his jaw. Just before she hit the ground again, her body was suspended in the air, just inches from the ground. Jadunius was about to charge again before he was held in the same energy that was holding the injured vulpix.

"Control yourself! What Alivia was saying was completely true. What happened was an accident. If you ever hope of succeeding me then you have to analyze a situation, otherwise I am in every right to be able to pass that honour of leadership to anyone I please." He lifted Alivia over to his back and gently placed the poor girl on there, despite his best efforts she still yelped out and winced from the pain, her fur was matted with dirt and blood from being dragged along the ground by Jadunius "Do not fear little one, you will heal up soon." He looked back to his son "Go fetch whatever you can to help your new family member out, she will need some assistance to heal properly." He saw as his son's jaw dropped at what he heard. "Do not disobey me. She is your family member and you will help her. Move along and be back to our den as quick as you can." He dropped the hold he had on his son and watched as Jadunius darted away, doing as he was told. Vysivius began to walk out, keeping a close watch on Alivia's condition as she mumbled in a semi conscious state "The next few hours are going to going to be uncomfortable and probably very difficult, but your survival is ensured, I am truly sorry about my son." She groaned weakly in response as she tried to turn and face him, although her wounds were too fresh and stung at any movement. "I understand." Was all Vysivius said to her as they continued on their way back.

**A/N:**** I hope this is good enough for you guys. There were a few parts I had to keep re doing, which is why it took so long, but I thank all of you for your patience. I'll update whenever I can. Thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**** Wow, sorry it's been so long everyone. I'm not even going to try listing excuses and I'll get straight onto it. I do not own pokemon, but the characters I would like to claim ownership. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 5**

Alivia stayed in her spot in the royal cave. Her wounds were stinging even after the hours of treatment that Vysivius had organised. The time alone afterwards had given her time to think about what had happened so far. She had been cursed, brought to a clan where she was hated, forced to go to sleep twice and became a member of the clan's royal family. It was a lot to take in and it all caught up with her as tears started to fill her eyes. Her vision became hazy until the tears fell to the effect of gravity and ran down to the ground.

Vysivius had come to check on her several times and gave some comforting words to her, which did feel good, although she couldn't help feeling like a small child again. She found his presence calming. The two of them discussed general things that Alivia would need to know in order to fit in. Vysivius even treated her to some of the clan's history. She learned that he was the seventh clan leader. He had been in that position for close to four hundred years, and that his son was born seventeen years ago, which explained his youthful arrogance that could compete with hers.

As Alivia stayed in her lonely position, she pondered on the thought of what it would mean for her to be a royal. Did it mean that she would have to act any differently? Or would her perceived age mean she could get away with some things? Did she even want to be part of the family? As Vysivius approached her again she shifted onto her haunches. The pain stabbed at her back as she stretched the wounds out, almost re opening them. Her eyes watered from the pain. "Vy am I really part of your family?" she cocked her head to the side.

The Ninetales smiled at her and shook his head "Only on my command. You hold no blood relation to this family, nor do you to any other family. I believe that it is safest for you to pose as a family member" he held his sympathetic expression to her and gave a small lick on her right ear. "You showed me that you can be feisty enough to be part of this family. Even Jadunius would agree." He added.

As if on cue, the younger Ninetales approached the pair. "Speak nothing of me." He growled. Jadunius stood above Alivia and looked down. His eyes were piercing. She could feel her fear growing. "Father, I believe it would be a good idea if we investigate the disruptions raised by Xai and his lookout pack. We can even bring your favourite mutt if you wish." His gaze never left the girl. "Perhaps it would be good to show her what dangers there could be." He smirked. He turned to face his father. "Agreed?" there was no response. "Good. I will see you outside after you get ready." The arrogant Ninetales bounded away.

"I'll show him." Alivia growled. With stubborn determination, she stood up. Her fur was matted on the areas she was wounded. She stepped forwards, gritting her teeth as the pain scraped across her wounds. "I need to prove to him that I'm not a monster…" she muttered weakly as she dragged her paws forwards, making her movements slow and clumsy. It was like learning to walk all over again.

She felt the weight on her paws decrease. Alivia was being lifted. She was placed on Vysivius's back and he walked her out at a slow pace. "Whilst I disagree with Jadunius's insistent demands, he may be right. Perhaps it would be best for you to see any dangers that our clan may face." He looked back to see that she was already fearing what may lie ahead. "Do not fear. Jadunius and I are more than capable of keeping you safe." He turned his head away and continued out of the cave where the self righteous fire fox was waiting. "Son, I trust that you know where Xai has located the disturbance?" Jadunius nodded. "I am following your guidance. Do not lead me along the path of peril." He said, almost as if it was some kind of tune.

Despite the rapid pace that both of them moved at, Alivia found it was a comfortable ride. The dense forestry that towered above the three of them grew shorter the further out they went. They were still large. However, they were noticeably smaller. Alivia was gently lowered to the ground "It was around here that Xai reported sightings. You can just smell the scent of invaders." Jadunius took in a deep breath, which was mimicked by both Alivia and Vysivius. "I can't tell who came along here. However, it is clearly something dangerous. The bitter smell of poison is faint, but the very presence of it is enough to keep me alert. Alivia, stay close to either one of us." The younger ninetales ordered, although there was no arrogance in his tone. Alivia found herself shuffle closer to Vysivius.

He smiled at his son "Very good analysis. Taking control was a nice touch at the end. The only thing I would say is look out for the different poisons. The bitter poison is mild. Worst case scenario of ingestion is movement restricted for no longer than a day. Even then, the extent of restriction is minimal. It is only once you can find the scent of a sour poison that you will be on your highest alert." Alivia looked between the two, feeling more confused as they continued. "I would say that the sightings have been of probably a lost Skorupi. Only a threat to infants." They both looked down at the girl and a smirk appeared on Jadunius' muzzle.

"Very funny. I am not an infant." This time Vysivius raised his brow and tilted his head at her "Oh…right." He just rolled his eyes at the girl.

The eldest of the three wandered around in a circle, his ears staying perked the whole time, trying to find out any danger. "I think the area might be clear. Jadunius, be sure to check wind direction. We don't want them to disguise the smell with the aid of the elements." He instructed, his tone sounding calm yet assertive.

Alivia toddled across to Vysivius, feeling more comfortable around him. Her attention was snapped away from it when her nose caught the scent of something delectable. She drifted away towards the smell and followed it until she could see its source. As convenient as it seemed, there was an Oran berry bush just ahead. Subconsciously, Alivia licked her lips, immediately feeling the urge to sate a newfound hunger. She couldn't help but blush when she heard a growling, realising it was her own stomach.

She tried not to get carried away, and took a look around to see if there was anything dangerous. She strode over to the shrub happily and stared at the fruits for just a moment longer; trying to decide which one she would have first. She was practically drooling as she was making her mind up.

The thicket twitched with life. "What the-?" Alivia frowned as the bush moved again. Her mind was no longer on the fruits on which the plant held, but rather what was inside the bush. "Show yourself." She growled although her mind was starting to fill with fear and doubts.

A high pitched screech came from in the bush and Alivia barely managed to dodge a claw that was swiped straight at her. A Skorupi came bursting out of the plant, leaping at her with an angry cry "How dare you demand something from me pipsqueak!" Its voice was raspy and high pitched, the accent sounded faintly Scottish "I hope you realise who you're demanding from." It shrieked, the anger it was showing was enough to make Alivia back a few steps away. It scurried up to her quickly, raising its claw to strike, but missing again "Let me teach you a lesson ya little weakling. Should've stayed back with your clan." It scorned.

The Vulpix tripped over backwards and winced, the previous injury still very much noticed as her body reminded her of the need to heal. However, her mind went on the full offensive against her foe "Uhm…" the Skorupi looked on impatiently. The fact she was speaking to it seemed to make it curious. This bought her time. Her mind wracked through anything to delay an attack "You're probably right. I should have stayed back at the clan." She sighed, acting her part well. She quickly stumbled back when she saw the bug pokemon advancing to her again, its claws glowing "Ah! Stop trying to attack me!" she cried out, hoping it was loud enough for the older allies to hear her. Alivia attempted to put a brave face on in front of her enemy. The pokemon looked like it wanted to use its claw like a hammer on her. "I'll set you on fire." She warned, crouching into an attack stance. This made the other pokemon stop. Alivia smiled to herself. A thought occurred to her. She could actually try out an attack at this point. The timing would be perfect, an opponent that would feel the effects of a fire attack most. Alivia took in a deep breath and could feel the heat rise in her mouth. She felt her heart flutter with excitement and her legs went into motion, charging at the bug pokemon. Straining to keep her inhalation in, she got there as quickly as she could. Just inches in front of him she let out her breath in a short sharp burst. The foe recoiled back, knowing the attack would her. Alivia closed her eyes, unable to watch someone in pain. However, there was no extra heat given off externally, no screams in agony. Instead all that was heard was the shrill laughter in the accent of her enemy. Before her eyes opened she was shunted out the way by those claws.

"You can't even attack! I'm surprised you're allowed out of your clan." It squeaked. "Hmm, I would be doing them all a favour by ousting a weak link. Surely they don't want you to be an example of their future generations." It snorted and cackled, then lighting up its claws and holding them overhead, looking ready to send them down and end it all. Alivia retreated into a small ball of fur as if it would protect her. A faint whimper could be heard as she reopened some of the previous cuts on her back, the damaged flesh exposed to the air, stinging with a fresh intensity. "Oh it looks like someone else has already tried." It guffawed once again.

"If you even touch her I will scorch you so even Arceus would not find any remains." A dark growl came from not too far away. Jadunius glared at the Skorupi and bared his teeth "She is barely worth your time, but I have sworn to my leader that she stays safe." He leapt forwards to startle the smaller pokemon some.

As it scrambled backwards to keep a safe distance away it called back "Ah, a young Ninetales, I bet you don't even know how to control your abilities yet. If you attacked me with fire, you'd burn this entire area, not just me. Then you would be without a home." Its voice sounded confident despite the body language it was giving off.

"I would happily do the job for him then." Vysivius added, entering the scene so that the other two were approaching the Skorupi from either side. "You underestimate his capability. He is the most prodigious young Ninetales I have seen in all my years. I suggest you leave now, all of us remaining unhurt. Does that seem fair?"

Once again the poison type chortled in response, still backing away "I will quite happily leave now. Make sure that pup gets all the necessary training so that she can at least puff up some smoke." There was a pause, and the pokemon smirked at them. "Enjoy!" it squealed with glee before dashing away, letting its claws flail frantically in its mad dash from the area.

The swift exit confused the elder Ninetales and he watched until the pokemon had disappeared. "Strange. What could that little pokemon have said that for?"

His son snorted and paced over to the fur ball that was Alivia "I think he was being sarcastic, knowing that we have to deal with this mess." He gestured to the girl. She uncurled and frowned in response to his comment. Despite her best efforts, he didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by her fierce look "Don't look at me like that. You know yourself that you are not even going to be close enough in skill to worry me."

Before any bickering could commence, Vysivius interrupted whilst shaking his head "No. He wouldn't know the extent of what we have to deal with." Alivia turned her glare onto Vysivius although he was in deep thought and so didn't notice. "He had a smile on his face and the words spoken were not so spiteful…It has left me truly perplexed."

The forest went silent, waiting for Vysivius to grace it with his voice again. "You're thinking too much." A voice announced, causing all three to look to each other in confusion. Both of the males were looking to one another to check if it was them. They shook their heads, communicating silently. "None of you can work it out." The voice continued, its voice sounding perilous. Both of the Ninetales moved to cover up Alivia, protecting her from the possible danger. "Your efforts to stop us will be futile, Vysivius." The voice threatened. The elder Ninetales stepped forwards with intent, his ears pointing forwards and a serious look on his face.

"I've got you figured out." It taunted, the voice growing louder and more menacing every time it spoke. The direction that the voice projected from had changed, and this caused Vysivius to turn in search of it, detecting any movement if he could.

He growled in frustration "I demand that you show yourself. How do you know about me?" He asked, his tone coming across as stern towards the new invader. "I must warn you it is not wise to trespass on our clan's territory. You must either be foolish or have a very good reason to enter these lands." A little chuckle followed after what he said. The voice seemed to be swirling around their vicinity, playing with them.

"Okay Vysivius, step forwards and I shall reveal myself to you."

Within a second of its response, Jadunius stood up by his father, "Father let me stand there. I don't trust the being's intentions." He urged, stepping ahead of his father and stepping forwards to where his father would have stood. A purple haze started to form just a few metres from him. Jadunius held his nerve and stood firm as the haze started to form into the haunting shape of a Gengar. Alivia watched from behind as she recognised what was showing itself. When the pokemon appeared entirely it looked at the Ninetales with its trademark smile. The younger Ninetales frowned and growled at the being opposite "I knew I could smell stronger poison around here. What business have you in our lands, and what do you know of my father?" he snapped, temper immediately flaring. In the confusion Alivia noted that he seemed to react like this to anyone new.

The Gengar disappeared for a second before appearing next to Jadunius, leaning an arm on him and patting his head "Surely your father would have taught you better manners than to yell at new people straight away?" he teased, rubbing the Ninetales's ears like he was a pet. This only served to infuriate Jadunius further. Alivia covered her eyes as she anticipated an outburst, but just as Jadunius was about to strike, the Gengar disappeared to stand a safer distance away. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Nile. I am a Gengar.." he paused when he was interrupted by a small giggle from behind Jadunius. His grin shifted to a grimace and he disappeared into a shadow, only to show himself rising from another one, right next to Alivia "What could you possibly find funny, mutt?"

She stopped and looked up at him "Well…the way you act is just like a normal human. It just made me giggle. Plus I knew a Gengar before and it was a total clown…I see him in you." She rolled over in fits of laughter again.

This time it was the Gengar getting infuriated. Her laughter was spreading and the low chuckle could be heard from Vysivius. Even his son was cracking a smile at the embarrassed Gengar. In his fury he grabbed Alivia by the neck and held her close to his face as her laughter died and her pupils shrank in fear. "I act like this because I had a trainer. For reasons, I am no longer his. Those reasons aren't because I was a clown. Those reasons are purely from my own actions to scar him. I can assure you that you will regret laughing at me." He threw her into Jadunius and they both went crashing to the ground. Nile puffed his chest out, making him appear larger "You know what? I was going to suggest some sort of compromise, but now I see no reason to be diplomatic. Instead I am going to make sure that you are crushed…or better yet I could make you watch as we tear your clan apart, destroying it, and extinguishing any of your lives, just as your clan did to my precious poison friends. Their lands were so beautifully toxic, but then you took that all away." He shouted.

"That was generations ago. How can you possibly still hold a grudge after that long, especially when you didn't exist?" Vysivius replied, helping the other two up as they glared at Nile.

He roared in fury "History is easily remembered between every species, not just yours. This land was once poison territory, but since you took over, this land is disgustingly clean, and now as their leader I am making sure that we get our land back, avenging our kind."

Alivia protested "That's not true. Skorupi and Drapion live in desert climate, so it can't be all poison types."

"That is where you are wrong. They scattered their habitats in order to survive in regions that suited them most, and because of the lack of toxicity, they were forced to live in those areas and thus became more commonly known as a desert dwelling pokemon…how did you know that?" he frowned at Alivia curiously and looked into her eyes before realising "Wait…you've been captured before as well? Your knowledge suggests to me that you've gained information since being with humans. Am I correct?"

Before Alivia could respond, Vysivius spoke up "She needn't answer to you. And you needn't know about her past." He growled. The Gengar stood silently. His frown had gone for only a second before returning. Nile shook his head and sighed as if he was disappointed. "Be gone now." Vysivius threatened "Or else."

Suddenly the pokemon started laughing in a maniacal fashion "Be gone….be gone? Oh that is adorable, you creatures are simply a delight to talk with." He giggled, his tone sounding light hearted and cheerful. However, he soon straightened up again and stood silently for a while, making sure they had all seen his mood shift. The entire area seemed to get colder and the atmosphere grew dark, only making the Gengar look even more ominous. One moment he was staring at them seriously and the next he was in fits of laughter, but one final time he stopped and looked fiercely at the pokemon crossing his plans. "I shall not be gone!" he snapped, his voice cutting through the air like a blade, making even Jadunius feel vulnerable as he lowered his ears and head. "Vysivius." He called out, encompassing the elder Ninetales in a light glowing energy and lifting him into the air, towing him closer. "I believe it is you whom should be listening to moi, pas dans l'autre sens, merci" he smirked, dropping the Ninetales to the ground just ahead of him. Nile's eyes rolled in opposite directions as he trudged forwards to Vysivius, a flash in his eyes revealing he had a protect ready. He grabbed his foe with a rough showing, bringing his face up to Vysivius's "After their leader goes, the rest will crumble." Nile threw him down again, his opponent not even reacting, but just taking the rather minor hits. Nile waited as Vysivius got up and he looked him in the eyes "I don't think you're strong enough to be leader. Far." Vysivius cried out as a barb had been fired into his right shoulder. "Too." Another flew past Alivia and Jadunius, slicing over their leader's back "Weak." Nile finished as a final thorn jammed itself into Vysivius's left back leg, causing him to fall and whimper in the sharp pains "You've probably worked out that those aren't just normal thorns. I'm not simple enough to believe that will finish you off. No, instead I had some of my toxic companions secrete any poison they could onto these thorns. Enjoy your slow, painful descent to death. Send Giratina my regards." Nile bowed before turning and walking away, certain there would be no resistance from the other two.

Unfortunately for them, he wasn't done "Don't think I'm sadistic, I don't want it to be slow." He whistled, revealing he hadn't come alone. Many poison type pokemon rushed into the area at them. Vysivius stood up, looking slightly more fragile, but he growled and roared out as he forced out a vast amount of fire, scorching everything ahead of him.

Vysivius duly leapt back to the other two "Alivia, you must run and choir the message to the elders. We must assemble resistance. I don't for one moment believe that these are the only pokemon he brought with him. Go!" he ordered, the Vulpix scrambling away as quick as she could. His head turned to his son "We must make sure that they cannot advance further. Help me defend our clan." He almost begged, feeling the situation was dire if his plan did not work. The only response he got was a nod before another blast of fire was shot directly at one of the pokemon, a Skuntank. As the blast faded he saw that the pokemon was still standing, although he did look beaten. "Ready yourself son."

* * *

Alivia ran back in the direction of the clan territory, checking back to see if there was any pokemon chasing after her. Her little legs felt like they had acid circulating through them; the longer she was running for, the stronger the pain seemed to grow. However, she knew that if she stopped then it would hurt even more, and that she wouldn't have helped. She wouldn't have got the help needed. She rounded a tree only to be nearly taken off of her feet when several poisoned needles were fired at her, barely missing. She peered back to see that there was a lone Croagunk chasing after her. The pokemon bounced its way towards her, starting to catch up. Another round of the needles flew at her and she winced when one of them stuck into her back, the poison, although weak had immediate effect and Alivia could feel the burn that it was giving off inside her. The only thing she could do was run. She knew she couldn't fight; it would have been stupid to even attempt it. Her small frame was struggling to keep up the pace and finally it all caught up to her and she fell in a heap of exhaustion. Breathing heavily she could feel the weight of the Croagunk pressing down its hands on her. One hand lifted off her quickly and she tensed up, expecting a large hit to her back. "Don't even think of it!" barked an unfamiliar voice. The Croagunk stepped back at this, and Alivia looked forwards to see that there was one angry looking Ninetales standing in an aggressive stance, and the longer it stood there, the more Ninetales appeared. "The kit is part of our clan. She is royalty and this act you commit is treasonous. I trust you know what the repercussions are." The Croagunk could feel the temperature rising just by looking at them "Therefore, as leader of this clan's battle force, I sentence your death." He shouted. The Croagunk stumbled backwards, muttering pleas of innocence, but they were falling on deaf ears. Alivia laid flat as she felt the searing heat of the flamethrower attacks dash over her. The next sound was of the Croagunk experiencing the pain of its flesh melting away, the flames consuming its body as use for fuel. It ran around, screaming, rolling, trying to make the burning stop, but it was doing nothing. The Croagunk screeched as its flesh was being disintegrated. All other pokemon just watched as the poison type fell over in the merciless pain it was experiencing, until finally, it stopped. The Croagunk had gone silent, although the faint sound of bubbling came from its blistered skin, making Alivia cringe as the faint smell of burning flesh entered her nostrils, causing her to start coughing and gagging.

The leading Ninetales nudged her up and she gave a weak smile, holding back another fit of coughs "This is no time to smile, impostor. You must tell me what is happening, immediately." He spoke softly, urging Alivia to respond accordingly.

"They…Vy and Jadunius." She broke into another coughing fit, standing up as she tried to recover "A lot of poison types…so many attacking them. Vy got really…really hurt!" she yelled, her voice cracking a little bit as she thought of Vysivius being injured. "He said it was only going to get worse…the poison on those thorns is killing him." She squeaked, sounding less stable with every word she spoke. The Ninetales comforted her and put a tail to her nose, reaching down further. It worked and she was silent, curiously watching the tail until he brought her attention back to him.

"Where were they?" he asked, leaning in so that she could whisper. As much as she disliked being treated like a child, she bought into it and leaned in and whispered into his ear, her breathing now slowing from the shallow, fast breaths from before as she calmed down. "Xai's current station. Okay, brilliant. Thank you young royal. For now I must leave." He turned and faced the crowd of Ninetales that had gathered "Our leader is in great danger of losing his life. It seems the poisonous creatures have mounted a surprise attack. I urge all of you capable to join me in this battle. For the very fate of our clan is to be decided on how we act in this moment. Join me. We shall not be beaten if we all join together." He roared out victoriously, others soon joining him as he turned away and sprinted towards his target destination, many others following him.

A full laughter could be heard just behind Alivia and she was nudged again, this time by a familiar Ninetales. "Come now Alivia, you look in no condition to join them. I am actually quite surprised you made it back here without that poisonous creature beating you to a pulp in front of us. You are lucky that you were found so fast. Or else you would have surely been part of the ground by now." Again, the eccentric Ninetales gave a light hearted chuckle, picking her up and walking away from the flaming pile of ash and flesh that used to be the Croagunk. He set her down gently and smiled "Now. Do tell me how you and the other two ended up in this chaos." He craned his neck to the side; his greying fur highlighted even more at that angle.

Alivia looked down at her paws and shuffled them a little bit "To be honest it all happened so fast that I was running back before I knew it. We were just checking around because Jadunius had called Vy over because there was something spotted at the place we went to." She looked up at her elder, and he looked back down at her with intrigue, willing her to go on. "Ahem…so yeah, anyway, we were looking around and stuff when a Skorupi jumped out and tried to get me…now that I have time to think about it, it really is strange how it was in this kind of environment, because natur-" she was cut off by Drio's suggestive cough "Oh, right. It left pretty soon after Jadunius saved me, and-" once again she was cut off by the elder.

He was laughing in full flow, tears almost forming "Oh I have no doubt he was saving you. Of course, his anger for you must have already worn off. And not a moment too soon." He beamed in delight.

Alivia frowned at him, her ears falling back "You're not serious are you? He said it himself. He was saving me under his father's orders." She pouted, although it could do nothing to cease the old male from laughing. "…what do you mean not a moment too soon?" she asked, but her question was drowned out by the uproar that he had been giving, gaining the attention of some of the other Ninetales who were busy preparing in case the attack advanced into the area.

Drio started to calm down, occasionally having a blip and laughing out loud again. He seemed unable to control it "But of course he would say that. It would be the logical thing to say would it not? In his situation I would have done the same thing. Save the female, act gracious about it, draw her in." he started laughing yet again. Alivia's face went flat and her ears fell back "You can't honestly say it didn't cross your mind can you?" he raised a brow at her, leaning in; the lack of personal space making her feel uncomfortable.

"No I don't know. It didn't cross my mind…he's a pokemon…that's all I see him as. A pokemon who just so happens to be infuriating and still saved me. There can't be anything more to it than that." She huffed, using a paw to meekly bat at Drio's nose, missing entirely.

Drio leaned in and nuzzled the girl, chuckling some more as he did "Oh, you have such a fiery temper. It matches perfectly." He teased, causing her to growl as her frustrations rose.

She attempted to push him away "How can you honestly try to pair me with him? How can I honestly be paired with anyone!? I can't. I need to go home. I need to get away from here." She cried out, trying to resist the instinctual urge to nuzzle her elder back. "I mean there are others out there fighting for this clan and what are you doing? You're getting on my nerves is what you're doing." She swiped, her claws not even out to attack. Eventually she found the shouting tiring and just reciprocated the nuzzle.

Drio hummed softly and smiled at her "I am doing something for the clan. I'm looking after you. Not everyone has to go out and fight, our fighters are talented. You do need a carer in your current state and from your reaction to this. You are acting just normal." He smiled.

Alivia grabbed his muzzle and looked him straight in the eyes "Promise me they'll come back…I don't know if Vy is going to make it." She said her face full of worry.

He nuzzled her again, knowing that she would respond in kind. "Do not worry. There is a reason that Arceus gifted Vysivius's line with leadership. He will not die tonight."

**A/N:**** Uh hello, so happy holidays to everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the festivities. I'm glad I can bring this chapter out to you. To anyone who actually bothers to read my stuff anymore despite my inconsistency to actually post chapters, thank you very much. I'll see you next time. I wait patiently for the reviews. bye! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**** Well, it's been a while for sure. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Whilst I take a while to do all of this, I'd just like to assure that I intend to finish this and all current projects. I do not own pokemon.**

**Chapter 6**

Vysivius was standing with a weak posture, the poison clearly getting into his system, though it didn't prevent him from being able to hold back the hordes of poison type pokemon. The Skuntank had proved to be more resilient to the flames than either Ninetales had anticipated. However, it did not mean Jadunius was going to go soft on it. He unleashed a final blow, making sure it drew its last breath. Something about the heat of battle had those two fighting as if they had nothing to lose; it was somewhat artistic to watch how quick on his feet he was. The paws bouncing around the makeshift battlefield, gracefully flowing from one place to another. He felt excitement at each attack he delivered, though he could see his father was beginning to suffer more than before. He doubled up his efforts to reduce the stress his father would be under. "I fear we are outnumbered father. I can only hope that our pet Rattata got back in time to tell them." He was quick to place the blame on Alivia, almost believing his own words on their impending demise.

"I wouldn't bet on it yet." A confident voice charged in, its holder was revealed as another Ninetales, and it was quickly followed by at least a dozen more Ninetales, all of them launching into attacks on the poison typed offenders. The streams of fire were small and precise, picking exact spots to penetrate with the flames, concentrated enough that the melting flesh could be smelled; the stench made worse by the poison type's aromatics to release what might as well have been toxic gas. The Ninetales who spoke made his way across to Vysivius, smiling down at him "Not to worry your majesty, we have all this controlled." He nodded, and with that, Vysivius was able to get away, accompanied by two Ninetales who were not partaking in the bloody violence that was being unleashed.

Jadunius was far from done however and he lunged towards an offending Toxicroak, a stream of fire directly onto his foe before slashing at its throat with his sharp claws. The very feeing of that area being sliced by him gave a small feeling of power, a sort of blood lust was overcoming him, but he was smart enough to remind himself that crazed fighting was not the way. He quickly, carefully examined the body of the Toxicroak, confident that his companions would prevent any further attack on him for now. The pokemon was still alive, though life was fleeting from it slowly. In a rather clinical fashion, the young Ninetales ended the poison type's life then. He was no monster, sparing the creature a painful death, but it still made his fire burn brighter inside. Dodging another attack from an unseen pokemon, he turns to face a Honchkrow attacking him. Before any other attack could be landed on him though, the bird pokemon was pulled down from the air and mauled viciously by one of the young male's companions in battle. Jadunius looked down as the bird pokemon was becoming defaced, and he thought how odd it was to see that pokemon involved in that battle. His eyes widened as he realised "Look up to the skies, look up to the trees! Our foes come in many different forms!" He shouted, guiding his followers to a safer course of action. Sure enough, Murkow began appearing from the trees where they had been hiding, waiting for the opportunity to take the group of Ninetales by surprise. The Honchkrow had mistimed its judgement and now all its feathered friends were being taken down with ease. However, their sheer number meant that along with the poison types attacking from the ground it was still going to be difficult to end this. "Know that they're weak and we are strong. My brethren, may our fire burn brightly, and our courage live on in our own futures." He spoke, clearly rousing more belief and motivation between all the Ninetales, their attacks seeming more powerful and threatening, all their fur on edge.

"You lead well for a kid." Nile appeared before the young Ninetales, startling him, the fox jumping back a few feet "I'm not going to hurt you….at least if you're going to promise not to attack me." The Gengar grinned, flicking some dust around from nowhere. "No one even knows about this…. Isn't it so cool that you can simply cause an illusion this easily?" he giggled in glee, acting like a child with a new toy. Judging from Jadunis's reaction, the Gengar got his answer. "Ah good. Perhaps there is a less bleak hope for you to be a strong leader yet. Well you would be if we weren't going to y'know, destroy all you know and love." He flicked his fingers out, talking about it as if it were a casual affair "I would say it's a shame, but…" he gasps, grinning again, though it looked eerie with even the noises of the outside not present "I am going to enjoy, no… better yet. I am going to savour watching all that you have ever known become nothing. Then your kind will know the suffering that the poison types have had to endure. It is this that I really desire. All I want is to see a species of pokemon suffer for their wrongdoing. Poison reputation as evil has only been shown because of the conflict similar to the one that is going on right now, and you know what? I believe it is fitting for your father and even a whelp as young as you to die in battle just for your kind, only to see from your spirit your efforts were all in vain anyway." He started to cackle manically, starting to unnerve the Ninetales as he stepped closer, intimidating more as he took a testing swipe at the vulpine, immediately breaking into a bigger laugh before suddenly stopping without warning, leaving the two to stare at each other in the silent bubble around them. "You'd better pray Arceus and Giratina show mercy to a blood lusting species, one that has so much pride, they let that dictate their own history and try to justify it with their own arrogant stories, believing they were gifted with a power to curse."

Jadunius felt unsure on what direction the Gengar was going to go with his talking. At one moment the Gengar would be in fits of laughter, only to turn deadly silent. The young fox didn't dare attack the ghoul for he did not know the strength of the being. His knowledge of humans training pokemon went as far as believing they allowed them to reach high levels of skill, although that was coupled with the years of slavery and oppression spent in the company of the human. The fact this creature was no longer under such abuse yet still maintained its learned powers, was scary even to the brave heir of a mighty clan. "Arceus shall look upon this attack in our favour, for he will know that our intentions hold no malice." Jadunius growled back at the ghoul, refusing to show any weakness to his foe. The effect was perhaps not what most would have expected as the Gengar faked a lunge, cackling afterwards. To see such a brave face flinch was all the ghost needed and is eyes seemed to grow in size, all around the vulpine faded to black. The only thing in his view were the eyes. His tails went stiff and he could feel his throat go dry, still trying to hold back any look of fear, however pointless it may seem. Slowly, soft echoes of Nile's voice chimed through his ears, causing him to shiver and feel a cool breeze on his fur, only made colder by the sweat that had stuck to his fur. "Stop this at once!" he barked, his eyes screwed shut as he tried to fight even harder to break from this pseudo nightmare he was suspended in.

In almost an instant, the normal light of the scene returned and as Jadunius opened his eyes the Gengar had vanished again. He was snapped back to reality when a poison needle stuck deep into his skin and immediately he could feel the burn of the poison as it tainted his blood stream, if only a little bit. His mind was still in the horror from before, and glancing to his fellow species in their own battles, he made the decision to run from the scene. He knew how cowardly it would look, but in the situation he just couldn't face a fight. Jadunius couldn't tell if the faint whisper of voices was controlled by Nile or if it was his own mind playing out the episode on repeat, but that's all he could think about as he ran further, making his way back to safety of the clan. He paused for a moment, his mind clear enough for him to reassess the implications of returning from battle during its height. Going somewhat teary, he fought the plaguing voices and ran from his home, finding comfort in the thoughts that he would not be ridiculed for any act of desertion. He was certain that others would have seen him fleeing, but at that moment it mattered little. His thoughts were telling him that he must continue to run until he is certain he can return unscathed.

He would only glance behind for brief moments, checking to see that he was remaining alone, his lungs burning as he demanded they continue their function under immense pressure, although what he didn't realise was that his delusions were all as a result of his fear expressing itself in the most basic way; fight or flight response, and unfortunately for the young male, the fear was too much and all that was happening around him just forced him over the edge. Finally, he allows himself a moment to stop. A moment to get a measure of himself. He sighed. All the running and he didn't realise he still had a few of the poison needles implanted into him. Jadunius winced as he forced himself to pry them from his skin, the weak poison touching his lips before he spat it away, staring at the spittle as it disappeared. The poison was able dissolve the smaller mass much better, and the thought of stronger poisons having the same effect on larger organisms was enough to make the Ninetales think about running further, as if it would rid him of any bad.

Now that there was relative calm around him he was able to assess his options again, though his mind couldn't go for long before it wandered to the haunting image of the Gengar's smile, an image that he could not avoid despite his best efforts. In the silence he hummed to himself to prevent the eerie feeling from returning. The moments when his mind was clear of his nightmare, he was forming a plan, a lie. In order to return to the clan without humiliation he would hide for now, letting them speculate over a lost heir, only for him to return with a tale of how he attempted to capture the Gengar, yet the dastardly creature had barely escaped with its life. He smiled to himself, his tails flicking in all directions as some amusement was coming from this. Picturing all the awed looks from his fellow Ninetales and the younger kin of Vulpix. Heck, he even imagined how the impostor girl would react. Seeing as she had agreed to keeping the clan safe, she would be very pleased, happy in fact for him. 'Oh how good it would feel to get praise from that rat', he thought to himself, a small sigh escaping his lips, his bad thoughts disappearing. "That wouldn't be a lie either really…..." he spoke out his thoughts, though in truth he knew that he would be deceiving everyone, yet it wouldn't be something as bad as saying he actually slayed the beast. That wouldn't end well because it would just return and then once it found out Jadunius's lie, it would begin to mock him and torment him further. The young Ninetales could not even withstand the thought of its consequences; the impostor would then be able to have an upper hand on him, also using it to influence his father. All the possibilities in his head were dizzying. It didn't make sense to lie out of proportion, but this had to be done to retain his dignity.

His ears pricked up at the moment he heard another voice. It wasn't the voice that would send him to a frozen state of fear, but the voice was certainly familiar. With a hunter's stealth he stalked closer to the source of the voice and spied from the brush, not able to see anything on the forest floor, but instead he could spot the Skorupi from before. He was not acting at all malicious like he had been taught all poison types do, but instead he was lazing on a tree branch, chuckling to himself as he belted out a verse to a song every so often. "Oh, you thought you could break me, but I'm aa true woman….or something like that." Its Scottish accent had become seemingly thicker, which could only add to the comedy of this scene. Something about watching this Skorupi made Jadunius smile, even forcing himself to stifle laughter. There was a moment when the bug pokemon raised its claw whilst its voice cracked the moment it went for a big note, but struggled through it anyway. The fox could not hold back his laughter for much longer and very soon the bug pokemon became aware it was being watched. "Show yourself or you'll regret it. I may be a wee one, but I pack one heck of a punch!" It yelled, probably making its throat sore; not that its singing didn't do that anyway. As much as Jadunius didn't want to stop the pokemon from singing, he had no choice but to show himself "Ah you! The one with the wee lass who can't even puff a bit of smoke up to me." It glared, but his eyes were met with a smirk from the Ninetales.

"She may not be able to breathe fire yet, but it's not anywhere near as funny as listening to a pokemon like you screech out something that I presume is meant to be melodic and soothing to our ears." He replied, unable to wipe the smile from his face. It was a rather pointless thing to criticise, but at the same time, focusing on this had done just enough to keep his mind away from the traumatic experience he had earlier. "You might want to try that in a battle rather than using a little poison sting, it'll certainly keep foes away. After all, everyone wants to keep their hearing for as long as possible." He taunted, now trying to tempt the Skorupi down, hoping to gain at least one scalp from the battle, hoping to redeem his cowardice.

The bug did not seem interested in a battle and instead scowled at his opponent "No one else needs to hear it. Why else do you think I am all alone here?" It quipped, tail raising in an arch behind to show a vaguely threating display to the fox. "I can see why Nile wants to help poison pokemon. You Ninetales are so arrogant and self-absorbed. The effort to overturn your clan is for the good of all. Just like humans you have a sense of self-righteousness and you believe you deserve it all just by existing. It makes every other pokemon, not just poison pokemon sick. What makes all of you so much better than us?" It ranted, and although the young fox did not believe much of what it said, he did kind of understand what it was saying.

Jadunius nodded his head and turned around to leave the pokemon be "I will spare you your life, for it is not mine to take. I wish you well in your further conquests, for your current one with the Gengar is doomed to fail. I have seen it." He explained to the smaller pokemon, leaving it to shout taunts and insults his way, yet not reacting as he disappeared from the pokemon's sight, leaving him to wonder what the Ninetales meant.

Bounding away he could feel the air passing by him, his tails feeling the cooling effect most as the it rushed past in the opposing direction. He knew what he was going to do, but he just needed some more time to wait so that he could still make a return without suspicion to be roused upon his arrival. Another thought in his mind was of what the Skorupi had said. "Every other pokemon despise us as much as the poison…how? I have not been informed on any meetings with clan representatives. It doesn't make sense…" He muttered to himself, keeping his voice quiet to now maintain as much quiet as possible, now using it as an opportunity to think hard for an answer. "How could it be that we know not of hostility from other clans? Is it to the same extent as the poison ones?" Some more thoughts became expressed verbally, some frustration grew in his young mind as he was not getting the answers he was looking for just by talking to himself. He thought of turning back and going to confront the Skorupi again, but realised that nothing would be gained from that rather quickly. The constant running was taking its toll as the adrenaline from before was wearing thin, Jadunius's spent body was beginning to falter, although it would soon be back to normal, he took the chance to slow down and gather himself again. He slowed to a stop before looking around and deciding this would be a good enough place to stop as any. Thankfully, he was rather good at remembering where he in relation to the clan. From where he was, he started to plot his heroic return from presumed death, thinking through each detail so he would not become derailed as a weak, cowardly heir. 

* * *

Alivia had seen many Ninetales pass now, it seemed that many were willing to fight off the poison types, and she was sure they would win. However, her thoughts were muddled somewhat as she tried to rid herself of the image of their sickly leader, now quite possibly in a critical state. Drio had kept her close and made sure she didn't wander off; there were already reported sightings of hostile pokemon within the clan itself, and so he kept his duty of protecting her. "Drio I really need to go see how Vy is doing. I know you said he will be fine, but I really need to see him…what if I said please?" She tilted her head, not exactly sure that it would work, but with the odd Ninetales looking after her anyway, it was as good a tactic as forcing her way there, and it expended less energy. Unsurprisingly the elder looked down to her and shook his head, the small smile still on his face as two of his tails wrapped around her, keeping her close, cosy and secure. Alivia refused to just accept this kind of treatment and pushed out of the warm embrace, letting the older of the two know that she was serious about her request. She would do pretty much anything to get her way. The misfortune for the girl was that whilst she was an unstoppable force at that moment, Drio was an immoveable object, and so far he was doing a better job at it than Alivia was at hers. The girl huffed angrily, almost wanting a puff of smoke to erupt from her nose just emphasise her anger at not getting her way on this one.

"You just need to take some time to calm down and stop worrying, little one. Vysivius will be fine. Of course he will need time to recover, but so do the best of us. I would be less worried about him and more worried about his son. Youthful ignorance in a dangerous battle is not one of the best attributes he can have. He will have to rise above it and power through. It is the only way he will not find himself injured like his father." Drio hummed out almost as a melody he had rehearsed, and perhaps he had. The two of them had seen a weak Vysivius escorted away from their view and now they were left there just to ponder. "Come, relax by the fires in our domain. I must leave you in the care of another whilst I inspect what damage our leader has sustained." Alivia felt her jaw drop at that. So, she wasn't allowed to see him, but Drio was? It hardly seemed fair, but the moment she was about to quarrel, the elderly Ninetales spoke before her "As a youngling of our kind, you are not permitted to see our leader in such a state for it may well drive your mind to believe the worst for our clan. We don't need the additional worry in a time like this." He looked down to her and saw the frown she wore, her face seeming to have that as a permanent feature with the current topic, only changing to a slight expression of confusion as he nuzzled her small cheek "I know that this would not have the effect on you, but trust me, this is not what you will want to see. I will authorise you a visit to see him the moment I deem it appropriate. Does that sound fair?" he spoke softly, leaning away from the nuzzle now to see her nod, still looking like she was concerned in the justice of this. He turned and entered the royal domain, gesturing for the Vulpix to follow closely. Once both were inside he stopped and allowed another Ninetales to get closer "Alivia, I would like you to meet another of our family, Eilsura." The Ninetales that had been approaching came into full view, the shape of its body was far more rounded, yet was thinner, without the muscle tones showing as much. Clearly this new interaction would be with a female Ninetales, which came as a somewhat refreshing thought as Alivia had spent her entire time talking with the males of this species and perhaps talking to the females was a better option. As if to enthuse the girl even more, this new Ninetales wore a smile, not an excited one, but one with content instead. "Eilsura is our leading example in psychic manipulation, a master of it if you will." And to emphasise Drio's point, she let her eyes flash an alarming pink, her tail tips came into view and all of them shared the same glow as her eyes had flashed. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I shall return with good news of our leader." And with that the eccentric old Ninetales left the domain with surprising speed.

There was no awkward silence between the two as the Ninetales began to speak, her feminine, ye commanding voice felt like it could inspire Alivia to do things that she would need motivation for "Hello human."

Alivia was in a rather dry sort of mood and responded in kind "Hello Ninetales."

"Address me as Eilsura, please. Drio has told me of your past." She smiled, her tails flicking with intrigue for the new girl.

Alivia couldn't help but chuckle, she might have figured that she would be questioned once again, though admittedly this female would probably have worked out everything by now if Drio had spoken to her "I get the feeling that Drio likes to gossip…is that why he's headed over to see Vysivius?" It was starting to make sense now, especially as he called out for himself to bring back good news.

Eilsura could only nod in response, finding this little one somewhat interesting in that she was already unfazed by being approached by pokemon who were larger than her and could easily intimidate her. For sure the Ninetales' psychic prowess would make the girl think twice before saying anything that could be offensive to pokemon ears. "Drio volunteered to be the bearer of news. There are many in this area that spend days in the fires, just because of their royal status." She shook her head just thinking of how that status had made some of the Ninetales in there bone idle. "I do not speak of your former name out of spite though, young one." She added, confirming the Vulpix's thoughts that this female was indeed more friendly than most towards her. The two shared a gaze at each other. Eilsura thought. She had met a human once. Initially she had just been observing it and seeing that actually the human she watched was very similar to that of a Vulpix in behaviour. It was curious to explore and discover new things. Though it was clearly a young of its species and had not learned how to develop evil within. When she did reveal herself to the human, it only seemed more curious and it was not hostile, nor did it try to enslave her. Clearly there was a sort of understanding of respect between the two because even to the current day she could remember how she felt confused, what she had experienced contradicted what every story about humans had said. It was an eye opening experience, but as soon as this was found out, she was kept from leaving the clan's sight and so a burning curiosity had grown since then to find out more about humans.

It was good to see that Alivia was not put off by the Ninetales' stare, instead her tails wagged and she smiled "So that means you'll tolerate me better than Jadunius?" she asked, her smile turning to a smirk "that means you'll tolerate me better than Jadunius?" she asked, her smile turning to a smirk "You'll help me in arguments with him? There's bound to be plenty more, and you could be just the backup I need. I need knowledge and reasoning, not just a growl, which from what I can tell isn't threatening at all." She explained, perhaps going off on a tangent from the original question, but if it kept her happy, then Eilsura was content to let it continue.

"I'll tell you what." The Ninetales started, grabbing the young girl's attention whilst she knew she had all her enthusiasm to agree with pretty much anything requested, believing she'd gained a new friend, or at least someone to talk to "Seeing as you and I will probably be partnered up quite a lot in the coming days, I suggest that we strike a deal." She raises her brow trying to gauge Alivia's reaction, seeing her interest was peaking "If I ask questions about you, then I will happily respond with answers for your own. I may even give you some pointers on how to really wind up the heir. I know some good ways, though they must stay between you and I." she leaned in to whisper the last part, smiling at the girl as she could see there was a mutual trust forming. Alivia responded with a determined nod "Glad to strike a deal with you, human."

**A/N:** **I am hopeful that this was at least worth some of the wait. I will try to be a bit speedier on the follow up to this chapter, though I will not be able to make any promises. However, I promise that rather odd scene with a singing Skorupi does have some relevance. Until next time folks, I leave you with this. **


End file.
